Costs imposed in Lok Adalat can be waived or reduced for valid reasons, balancing adherence to guidelines with individual circumstances.

ORAL ORDER

1. By way of this application, the applicant-revisionist is before this Court under Section 397 read with Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to in short as ‘Cr.P.C.’) with a prayer for deletion / modification of the condition No.4 of the order dated 09.07.2023 passed in Criminal Appeal No.76 of 2023 by the learned Sessions Judge, Morbi in a Special Sitting of Lok Adalat.

2. Heard learned Advocate for the applicant Mr. Rishabh R. Jain, who submits that the matter was settled and the learned Sessions Judge had taken up the matter in a special sitting of the Lok Adalat and in view of the compromise, the Criminal Appeal No.76 of 2023 came to be disposed of. It is further submitted that the only grievance is about the directions given by Sessions Judge about paying 15% of the cheque amount as cost to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Morbi within a period of 60 days from the date of order. It is also submitted that if 15% of the cheque amount is considered, then that amount would come to Rs.1,90,000/-. It is further submitted that considering the decisions of the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Damodar S. Prabhu v. Sayed Baba Lal reported in (2010) 5 SCC 663 and also Madhya Pradesh State Legal Services Authority v. Prateek Jain in Civil Appeal No.8614 of 2014, then guidelines can be relaxed in view of the directions issued in Damodar S. Prabhu (supra). It is further submitted that when the matter is decided in the Lok Adalat, it shows the positive attitude of the parties then it that case, the Court can reduce the imprisonment, minimize the fine or even delete the same.

3. Learned Advocate Mr. Rishabh R. Jain further submitted that the present case would require consideration of the Court as the applicant-revisionist is mentally not strong and is undergoing treatment by M.D. (Psych.) at Surat and the purpose for settlement is the medical condition of the applicant. This fact could not be brought to the notice of the learned Judge in the Lok Adalat. It is further submitted that the heavy cost of deposit of 15% of the cheque amount would become onerous in view of the medical ailment of the applicant and instead, the said amount could be used for the applicant’s medical expenses. Hence, it is urged for deletion of the above condition.

4. On the other hand, learned Additional Public Prosecutor has submitted that the order of the learned Judge is just and proper in the facts of the case.

5. In the case of Madhya Pradesh State Legal Services Authority (supra), it has been observed as under :-

“What follows from the above is that normally costs as specified in the guidelines laid down in the said judgment has to be imposed on the accused persons while permitting compounding. There can be departure therefrom in a particular case, for good reasons to be recorded in writing by the concerned Court. It is for this reason that the Court mentioned three objectives which were sought to be achieved by framing those guidelines, as taken note of above. It is thus manifestly the framing of “Guidelines” in this judgment was also to achieve a particular public purpose. Here comes the issue for consideration as to whether these guidelines are to be given a go by when a case is decided/settled in the Lok Adalat? Our answer is that it may not be necessarily so and a proper balance can be struck taking care of both the situations.

Having regard thereto, we are of the opinion that even when a case is decided in Lok Adalat, the requirement of following the guidelines contained in Damodar S. Prabhu (supra) should normally not be dispensed with. However, if there is a special/specific reason to deviate therefrom, the Court is not remediless as Damodar S. Prabhu (supra) itself has given discretion to the concerned Court to reduce the costs with regard to specific facts and circumstances of the case, while recording reasons in writing about such variance. Therefore, in those matters where the case has to b