The Yogi Adityanath Government in Uttar Pradesh has implemented the Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS) under the Uttar Pradesh State Legal Services Authority for a period of two years to provide free legal assistance to the people of the state and resolve minor disputes among them by working out a compromise formula.
The objective of implementing LADCS is to strengthen court-based legal services in order to provide effective and competent legal assistance to the weak and vulnerable sections of society, officials here on Thursday said.
The state government has made an appeal to the public to make the most of this system so that legal assistance can be provided to them in criminal cases on the lines of the public defender system.
Through the LADCS system, legal assistance will be provided to the general public at the levels of chief, deputy, and assistant counsels.
LADCS will provide qualitative and competent legal services to eligible individuals in criminal cases. This can benefit members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC&ST). Moreover, those who have been affected by illegal acts of individuals can directly benefit from it.
LADCS will benefit numerous individuals including women, daughters, and children who are victims in the state, individuals affected by disabilities such as blindness, leprosy, deafness, mental weakness, etc., and nomadic individuals, industrial workers, juvenile delinquents (boys up to the age of 18), and persons detained in custody.
Additionally, the beneficiaries will also include individuals affected by calamities, caste violence, class-based discrimination, floods, droughts, earthquakes, or industrial disasters, mentally ill individuals admitted to a safe house, mental hospital, or nursing home, and individuals with an annual income of less than Rs 3,00,000/-
LADCS primarily functions to provide legal assistance specifically in criminal cases in districts or headquarters. It includes representation, trial and appeals in all sessions courts, special courts, magistrate courts, and executive courts.
Besides, it allows providing legal advice and assistance to persons appearing in the District Court/office for their defense, to persons in the pre-arrest stage under the NALSA scheme, and for post-arrest, bail, trial and filing of appeals in criminal cases at the remand stage.