Lok Adalat Awards are final and binding under Section 21 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, and can only be challenged via Writ Petitions under Articles 226/227 of the Constitution on extremely limited grounds, especially when the compromise occurred before a Judicial Officer.

(ORDER)

01. The Petitioner, through the medium of this Petition invoking Writ jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution, seeks quashing of Lok Adalat Order/ Award dated 13th of December, 2025, arising out of a Complaint, execution of which is pending before the Court of learned Judicial Magistrate (Munsiff), Pampore under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (“N. I. Act” for short), being an abuse of process of law.

02. The Petitioner, in this Petition, has pleaded that a baseless, false and frivolous Complaint came to be filed by the Respondent herein against the Petitioner before the Court below, cognizance of which was taken by the learned Magistrate and, without application of mind, the proceedings were initiated; that the Complainant/ Respondent herein had totally failed to prove prima facie case on the basis of which cognizance ought not to have been taken, inasmuch as, the Complainant even did not substantiate any offence with regard to the N. I. Act, as such, the Complainant/ Respondent herein had no reason to prosecute the Petitioner.

03. It is further pleaded by the Petitioner that the impugned Lok Adalat Award dated 13th of December, 2025 has been assailed on the ground that the compromise, on the basis of which the Award was passed, was not voluntary and with free will or consent of the Petitioner, as the Petitioner had been pressurized, threatened and also constrained on the basis of two Court warrants; that the learned Magistrate had failed to satisfy himself as to whether the compromise was genuine or had been entered into with free will and consent; that the compromise suffered from material irregularities as it did not disclose the full facts of the business transactions, reducing the amount substantially without valid reason; and that the Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the Complaint/ compromise because of lack of territorial jurisdiction as the application ought to have been filed before the District Judge concerned.

04. The learned Counsel for the Petitioner has vehemently submitted that the impugned Lok Adalat Order/ Award, based on the so-called compromise between the parties, was an abuse of process of law and hence the same is liable to be set aside. He, thus, prayed that the impugned Order/ Award be set aside, relegating the parties to the Trial Court for further proceeding in the matter with regard to trial of the Complaint.

05. Heard and considered.

06. At the very outset, it needs to be kept in mind that as per Section 21 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, every Award made by a Lok Adalat shall be final and binding on all the parties to the dispute and no appeal shall lie to any Court against the Award. However, as per the laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in case titled ‘ Bhargavi Constructions v. Kothakapu Muthyam Reddy , (2018) 13 SCC 480’ as well as in ‘State of Punjab & Anr. v. Jalour Singh & Ors., (2008) 2 SCC 660’, challenge to an Award of the Lok Adalat can be made only by filing a Writ Petition under Article 226 and/ or Article 227 of the Constitution of India and, that too, on very limited grounds.

07. It appears that the Respondent had filed a Complaint against the Petitioner before the Court below, alleging therein that the Petitioner, as accused, had received an amount from the Complainant-Respondent with the condition that he will provide suitable plot of land to the Complainant for residential purposes and, therefore, the Complainant was having lawful transactions with the accused; that the cheques were presented to the concerned Bank, which came to be dishonoured due to “Insufficient Funds” in the account of the Petitioner-accused and hence, a Complaint was made.

08. During the pendency of the aforesaid Complaint, a National Lok Adalat was organized on 13th of