The Kerala High Court has taken a serious step to prevent impersonation in legal proceedings. It has ordered the Kerala Legal Services Authority to create clear guidelines for all District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) and Lok Adalats to verify the identity of each party before starting any settlement process and giving awards.
This order was given by Justice C. S. Dias after a shocking claim came before the court. A man said that an accident claim was settled in his name without his knowledge, and it was allegedly done by an advocate without informing him.
“The identity of parties must be verified before starting settlement proceedings to prevent fraud,” the Court stated.
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The Court referred to Regulation No. 16 of the National Legal Services Authority (Lok Adalats) Regulation, 2009, which clearly says that if a party is not represented by a lawyer, the Lok Adalat must verify their identity.
But the High Court went a step further. It said that even when parties are represented by lawyers, it is still important to verify their identity to prevent any forgery or fraud.
“Verification should not be avoided even if lawyers are involved; impersonation can still occur,” the Judge observed.
To support this view, the Court mentioned a similar case from the Andhra Pradesh High Court – Yalamarthi Narasimha Rao v District Legal Services Authority (Lok Ayukta) Krishna and others (2022). That court had also directed Lok Adalats to confirm the identity of all parties because signatures and parties were being faked in several cases.
In the current case, the petitioner claimed he filed a compensation case for injuries he got when a KSRTC bus collided with the bus he was travelling in. But later, he found out that a settlement had already been made in his name, without him even knowing about it.
The insurance company objected to his claim, saying it had already been settled in a Lok Adalat, and a sum of Rs. 32,000 was awarded. The money was deposited in the Tribunal but had not been withdrawn by anyone.
The Court discovered that an advocate named K. Jelly had filed the case in the petitioner’s name and settled the matter in the Lok Adalat. But K. Jelly had passed away, making it impossible to verify the details with him.
“There is a clear mismatch in the signatures submitted earlier,” the Court noted.
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Because of this confusion, the High Court decided to cancel the Lok Adalat’s order and send the case back to the Tribunal for a full trial. It also told the Tribunal to return the deposited money to the insurance company for now.
Finally, the Court said that the Tribunal must find out who actually filed the earlier petition and take legal action if it turns out that someone impersonated the petitioner.
Case Details:
- Case Title: Vaisakh A Nair v The Managing Director, KSRTC and Others
- Case Number: WP(C) 38403 of 2024
- Petitioner’s Lawyers: A. R. Nimod, M. A. Augustine
- Respondents’ Lawyers: P. C. Chacko, Rajan P. Kalliyath, Lal K. Joseph
