Legal Aid

Free and competent legal services are made available to all sections who fulfil the requisite criteria laid down under Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 read with Regulation 28 and 29 of the Sikkim State Legal Services Authority Regulation, 1998.
The Income Ceiling for those entitled u/s 12(h) of the Act has been raised from Rs. 1,00,000/- per annum to Rs. 3,00,000/- per annum vide Notification No. 18/LD/2018 dated 23/11/2018.
Monitoring Committee as per Regulation No. 10 of the (Free and Competent Legal Services) Regulations, 2010, of NALSA have also been constituted for the High Court of Sikkim and District Legal Services Authorities vide Notification No. 88,89/SLSA dated 4/11/2011.

ENTITLEMENT OF LEGAL SERVICES:

Criteria for giving legal services:

Every person who has to file or defend a case shall be entitled to legal services under this Act if that person is-

a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe;
a victim of trafficking in human being or beggar as referred to in Article 23 of the Constitution;
a woman or a child;
a mentally ill or otherwise disabled person;
a person under circumstances of undeserved want such a being a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earth quake of industrial disaster;
an industrial workman;
in custody, including custody in a protective home within the meaning of clause (g) of section 2 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956,
or in a juvenile home within the meaning of clause. [104 of 1956]
of section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986, or in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home within the meaning of clause [53 of 1986]
of section 2 of the Mental Health Act, 1987; [14 of 1987]
in receipt of annual income less than rupees fifty (50) thousand or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by the State Government, if the case is before a court other than the Supreme Court, and less than rupees twelve thousand or such other higher amount as may be prescribed by the Central Government, if the case is before the Supreme Court.

Entitlement to legal services:

Persons who satisfy all or any of the criteria specified in section 12 shall be entitled to receive legal services provided that the concerned Authority is satisfied that such person has a prima facie case to prosecute or to defend.
An affidavit made by a person as to his income may be regarded as sufficient for making him eligible to the entitlement of legal services underthis Act unless the concerned Authority has reason to disbelieve such affidavit.

Legal Aid Activities of this Authority:

LEGAL AID BENEFICIARIES:

**Achievement of this Authority since April 1998 till 30th April, 2025**
YEAR	S.C.	S.T.	WOMEN	CHILD	CUSTODY	GEN	DISAB.	OTHERS	TOTAL
1998	Nil	01	04	Nil	Nil	11	Nil	Nil	16
1999	03	12	12	Nil	21	49	Nil	Nil	97
2000	05	69	65	04	130	36	Nil	Nil	309
2001	05	23	121	05	140	26	Nil	Nil	320
2002	11	22	203	03	93	36	Nil	Nil	368
2003	04	14	146	05	87	20	Nil	Nil	276
2004	03	10	118	02	92	18	Nil	Nil	243
2005	03	30	146	14	186	17	Nil	Nil	396
2006	06	34	96	41	232	16	Nil	Nil	425
2007	06	29	102	31	228	27	01	Nil	424
2008	07	24	133	37	277	17	Nil	Nil	495
2009	06	29	126	20	239	18	01	Nil	439
2010	10	10	150	23	297	18	03	Nil	511
2011	06	31	176	07	253	33	Nil	Nil	506
2012	10	19	165	07	324	15	Nil	Nil	540
2013	09	41	162	24	344	56	01	Nil	637
2014	14	45	262	25	382	118	Nil	02	848
2015	29	102	361	29	329	106	02	14	972
2016	27	85	318	48	451	103	–	–	1032
2017	30	90	326	28	403	96	01	21	995
2018	34	164	398	31	421	129	Nil	63	1240
2019	13	71	399	29	282	76	Nil	50	920
2020	6	61	284	17	184	51	1	41	645
2021	26	106	431	29	254	65	Nil	64	975
2022	31	104	482	22	379	93	1	36	1148
2023	21	107	544	18	252	129	3	13	1056
2024	27	136	461	20	168	107	1	5	925
2025 (till 31st July)	12	59	358	19	102	66	4	1	621
TOTAL	364	1528	6549	538	6550	1552	19	310	17410