Legal Services for Soldiers, Tribals Strengthened in JK: LG Sinha

SRINAGAR: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Friday addressed the North Zone Regional Conference of Legal Services Authorities in Srinagar, calling for timely legal assistance to defence personnel, tribal communities, and other vulnerable groups.

The Lieutenant Governor said legal services must reach the most marginalised sections of society to protect their constitutional rights. He said the JK administration has introduced key structural reforms to widen access to justice, particularly after 2019, when several central laws became applicable to the Union Territory.

He said the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are now in force in J&K, empowering tribal communities.

Sinha added that the JK Legal Services Authority Rules, 2020, have been amended to include the Secretary of the Zila Sainik Board as a member of the District Legal Services Authority. He said this step will facilitate legal aid to soldiers. The Lieutenant Governor’s Sainik Sahayta Kendra has also been established as a dedicated mechanism to address the grievances of armed forces personnel posted in or originally from J&K.

The conference, organised by the National Legal Services Authority, the High Court of JK and Ladakh, and the J&K Legal Services Authority, focused on reaffirming constitutional justice for defence personnel and tribals. The event was attended by Supreme Court Judge Justice Surya Kant, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, Chief Justice of J&K and Ladakh Justice Arun Palli, and other senior dignitaries including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The Lieutenant Governor also launched the NALSA Veer Parivar Sahayata Yojana 2025, a legal services scheme for defence personnel, ex-servicemen, and their families. Legal clinics will be set up at Rajya and Zila Sainik Boards to offer support under the scheme.

Other initiatives launched at the event included a Defence Personnel Case Management System, Special Samvad Legal Units for tribal communities, legal services support centres across Sainik Boards in J&K and Ladakh, and the unveiling of tribal kiosks at Leh airport.

Certificates of engagement as para-legal volunteers were presented to Veer Naris and ex-servicemen by the Legal Services Authorities of J&K and Ladakh.

The Lieutenant Governor said he hoped the conference would discuss both grassroots-level challenges and ways to create broader awareness about constitutional rights.