CHANDIGARH: A vision without action is called a day dream, but then again action without
a vision is called nightmare. Meet Mahavir Singh, Member Secretary-cum-Judge, State Legal
Services Authority (SLSA), U.T., Chandigarh who has vision as well as action that transform
passion clubbed with government schemes has scripted number of success stories of the
Authority.
The man has redefined the art of giving back determination and hope to the
needy living in dejection and despondency. He brought improvements in the working of
legal services authorities in Chandigarh by devolving certain legal powers.
From baby steps to big leap thus reads the success story of the State Legal Services
Authority (SLSA) Chandigarh. Brain behind this big leap is Mr Mahavir Singh who under the
able guidance of Hon’ble Mr. Justice Jaswant Singh, Executive Chairman, State Legal Services
Authority, U.T., Chandigarh has visualized new ideas to move the authority from secluded
place to its real sense relevance. After having an enriching work experience of five-year here
with SLSA, he will be moving on in another journey of profession. While talking to Mr Singh,
He said that there was no one most important challenge before him but a long chain of
challenges.
He further revealed that the authority has dotted its marks on national map. Not
only the ranks of beneficiaries of SLSA continued to swell by the day but also it’s awareness
capacity has been recognized at national level. The Authority has been awarded ‘Best
PLV’ among UTs and small states four times in a row. Besides in 2016 it was awarded best
District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) and best legal aid advocate award in 2018. No
commendation ceremony was held in the year 2020 due to COVID-19.
CHANDIGARH: A vision without action is called a day dream, but then again action without
a vision is called nightmare. Meet Mahavir Singh, Member Secretary-cum-Judge, State Legal
Services Authority (SLSA), U.T., Chandigarh who has vision as well as action that transform
passion clubbed with government schemes has scripted number of success stories of the
Authority.In 2018, the Authority did a commendation service when it had rescued an old lady
from long confinement with no clothes to cover her body in Ram Darbar, Chandigarh. He
also played pivot role in constitution of Welfare Board for Unorganized Workers in
Chandigarh. He succeeded in effective implementation of Poverty Alleviation Schemes in
Chandigarh. He says, “Often the objectives of the legislation are undermined owing to
communication gap and lack of coordination among different agencies.” He ranked
convergence of SLSA with various departments of Chandigarh Administration was the main
tool in the success of the Authority. Earlier, the matters remained in files for days but during
his tenure he used the technology and fixed the programmes, meetings etc on phone calls
and received positive response from most of the departments.
He also revealed that on an average 130 to 150 cases come to SLSA & DLSA for
seeking legal aid each month. A disabled man had got one-room house allotted at ground
floor who was allotted house at fourth floor by the Chandigarh Housing Board with the
intervention of the Authority, in its pre litigative Lok Adalat headed by him. Recently, a 10-
year-old rape victim has been awarded compensation of Rs 10 lakh within a week with the
intervention of the Authority. When the cost of justice was slipping out of the hands of
common man, he came forward to the rescue of such people and got hiked income limit for
seeking legal aid by three-folds by getting it approved in its AGM, which has brought more
number of people under the ambit of free legal services.
The COVID-19 pandemic, so it seemed, did not mist the spirit of the man who
always stood for the noble cause of needy. The Authority set up new standard in providing
services online. It launched a unique 24x7 helpline service during lockdown and stood at
forefront in helping the man in distress. The Authority had made arrangement with the
transporters to provide medicines at the doorsteps of patients of far-flung districts of
Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, J and K who were under treatment in PGI but had no access
to life-saving medicines due to lockdown.
During this period the services provided by the Chandigarh Authority was
assessed among top three Authorities in the countries. Keeping in view various factors
including functioning of Front Offices, providing of quick and quality legal services promptly,
number of awareness programmes organized and number of beneficiaries who approached
the Authority, making the functioning of the Authority cost effective also by monitoring the
things properly among others.