Open Access Research Article
UNREVIEWABLE CONSENT: SECTION 21 OF THE LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITIES ACT, 1987 AFTER THE MEDIATION ACT, 2023
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Two Indian statutes now make a
settlement reached without adjudication enforceable as a decree of a civil
court. One permits that settlement to be set aside for fraud, corruption or
impersonation. The other permits nothing at all. The statute that permits
nothing is the one designed for litigants who cannot afford a lawyer. This
article argues that because a Lok Adalat exercises no adjudicatory function,
genuine consent is the sole jurisdictional fact upon which its award rests, and
that Section 21 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 renders precisely
that fact unreviewable. It argues further that the Mediation Act, 2023, having
constructed a graduated protective architecture around consensual settlement,
expressly declined in Section 26 to extend any part of it to Lok Adalats. The
article proposes a narrow correction drawn from language Parliament has already
enacted.
Published Paper
Author Details
Authors: PRANAB KUMAR SONA
Registration ID: 1013147 | Published Paper ID: IJLRA13147
Year: Sep-2026 | Volume: 3 | Issue: 6
Approved ISSN: 2582-6433 | Country: Delhi, India
Page No.: 712-724
Article Information
UNREVIEWABLE CONSENT: SECTION 21 OF THE LEGAL SERVICES AUTHORITIES ACT, 1987 AFTER THE MEDIATION ACT, 2023
Authors: PRANAB KUMAR SONA
- Journal IJLRA
- ISSN 2582-6433
- Volume 3
- Issue 6
About Journal
International Journal for Legal Research and Analysis
- AbbreviationIJLRA
- ISSN2582-6433
- AccessOpen Access
- LicenseCC 4.0
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