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:

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; or
a victim of trafficking in human beings or beggary as referred to in Article 23 of the Constitution; or
a woman or a child; or
a mentally ill or otherwise disabled person; or
a person under circumstances of undeserved want such as being a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake, or industrial disaster; or
an industrial workman; or
in custody, including custody in a protective home, juvenile home, or psychiatric institution under relevant Acts; or
in receipt of annual income less than Rupees Three Lakhs.

Persons meeting any criteria under Section 12 are entitled to legal services if the Authority is satisfied they have a prima facie case.
An affidavit of income may be accepted as proof unless there is reason to disbelieve it.

Where the person obtains legal services by misrepresentation or fraud.
Where the person does not cooperate with the Legal Services Authority/Committee or with the Legal Services Advocate.
Where the person engages a legal practitioner other than the one assigned by the Legal Services Authority/Committee.
In the event of death of an aided person except in the case of civil proceedings where the right of liability survives.
Where the application for the legal services of the matter in question is found to be an abuse of the process of law or of legal service.

LEGAL AID BENEFICIARIES:

**Achievement of this Authority since April 1998**
YEAR	S.C.	S.T.	WOMEN	CHILD	CUSTODY	GEN	DISAB.	OTHERS / Sr. Citizen	TOTAL
1998	Nil	1	4	Nil	Nil	11	Nil	Nil	16
1999	3	12	12	Nil	21	49	Nil	Nil	97
2000	5	69	65	4	130	36	Nil	Nil	309
2001	5	23	121	5	140	26	Nil	Nil	320
2002	11	22	203	3	93	36	Nil	Nil	368
2003	4	14	146	5	87	20	Nil	Nil	276
2004	3	10	118	2	92	18	Nil	Nil	243
2005	3	30	146	14	186	17	Nil	Nil	396
2006	6	34	96	41	232	16	Nil	Nil	425
2007	6	29	102	31	228	27	1	Nil	424
2008	7	24	133	37	277	17	Nil	Nil	495
2009	6	29	126	20	239	18	1	Nil	439
2010	10	10	150	23	297	18	3	Nil	511
2011	6	31	176	7	253	33	Nil	Nil	506
2012	10	19	165	7	324	15	Nil	Nil	540
2013	9	41	162	24	344	56	1	Nil	637
2014	14	45	262	25	382	118	Nil	2	848
2015	29	102	361	29	329	106	2	14	972
2016	27	85	318	48	451	103	Nil	Nil	1032
2017	30	90	326	28	403	96	1	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	1087
2024	27	136	461	20	168	107	1	5	925
2025 (till 30th September)	20	76	465	28	152	105	5	6	857
TOTAL	372	1545	6656	547	6600	1591	20	315	17646