Tele-law
About
- The Government of India launched the Tele-Law program in 2017 to strengthen the pre-litigation mechanism in the country.
- It aims to connect the needy and marginalized persons, in need of legal advice and consultation with Panel Lawyers via video conferencing/telephone facilities, available at Common Service Centres (CSCs) located at Gram Panchayat level or via Tele-Law Mobile App.
- Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) who run the CSCs facilitate online registration of beneficiaries with Panel Lawyers.
- Para Legal Volunteers (PLVs) have been stationed to act as intermediaries, bridging the gap between common people and the Tele-Law service, and also to create public awareness about Tele-Law. PLVs are not lawyers, but have basic understanding of the legal process.
- The Tele-Law service is free of cost to all citizens.
Common Service Centres:
- CSCs are shops/kiosks that deliver various government services online like public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare, financial, education and agriculture services to citizens in rural and remote areas of the country.
- CSC is one of the mission mode projects under the Digital India Programme run by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
- Under the CSC 2.0 scheme initiated by MeitY in 2015, at least one CSC is to be rolled out in each and every 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats across the country.
- The project is implemented by CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle.
Jurisdiction
- Legal matters in which advice can be taken through Tele-Law service are:
- Dowry, family dispute, divorce, protection from domestic violence.
- Sexual harassment, sexual abuse, eve teasing at the workplace.
- Maintenance of women, children and senior citizens.
- Rights regarding property and land.
- Equal wages for males and females.
- Maternity benefits and prevention of foeticide.
- Prohibition of child marriage, protection of children from sexual assault, prevention of child labour and implementing right to education.
- Arrest – (F.I.R)/ process of registering the First Information Report.
- Atrocities against scheduled castes/ scheduled tribes and their rehabilitation.
Tele-Law 2.0
- In 2023, the Ministry of Law & Justice launched the Tele-Law 2.0 initiative which integrates the legal advice service under tele-law with legal representation services under the Nyaya Bandhu programme.
Nyaya Bandhu:
- The Nyaya Bandhu (Pro Bono Legal Services) is the Government of India’s initiative to establish a framework for dispensation of pro bono (free of charge) legal services across the country.
- Under the programme, practicing advocates, interested in undertaking legal pro bono work, are connected, via mobile technology, with eligible marginalised beneficiaries, after due scrutiny for delivery of pro bono legal services.
- Several cases in which tele-law centres help people get pre-litigation advice end up in courts. Lawyers who are part of the Nyaya Bandhu scheme can take up for free cases of those willing to contest their claims in courts.