Kerala High Court: Award By Lok Adalat Non Executable If It Does Not Contain Signature Of Both Parties To Settlement

The Kerala High Court in the case K R Jayaprakash V. State of Kerala observed and has held that a ward passed by the Lok Adalat which does not contain the signatures of both parties to the settlement is not valid in the eyes of law.

- 

The court in the case observed and has held that the signature of the counsels for the parties would not be enough to give validity to the award.

The single bench headed by Justice Viju Abraham in the case observed and has referred to Section 22C (7) of the Legal Services Authorities Act,1987, Regulation 33 of the Kerala State Legal Services Authority Regulation, 1998 and Regulation 17 of the National Legal Services Authority, the Lok Adalat Regulations, 2009 in order to conclude that both the parties must affix their signatures to the award and when the parties are represented by counsels, they must also affix their signatures.