The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has nominated Justice NV Ramana as the next executive chairman of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) with effect from November 27, 2019. A notification informing of the same has been issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice in the Official Gazette as well.
The post was previously occupied by incumbent Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, who had been nominated to the post in March this year.
Justice Ramana, who is presently the second senior most Judge of the Supreme Court, had earlier held the office of Chairperson of Supreme Court Legal Service Committee (SCLSC). During his tenure, the total pendency of cases had reduced from 3,800 to 1,811 within a span of a year, from 2018 – 2019.
A press release informed that after taking over as the executive chairperson of NALSA, Justice Ramana visited the NALSA office where he discussed issues pertaining to increasing access and efficiency for the promotion of legal services in the country with the Director of NALSA, Sunil Chauhan and other officers.
The release also discloses that in the next year, the primary focus of NALSA will be on enhancing the quality of legal services in both court based and outreach activities. Some of the specific objectives set to be achieved over the course of the year include implementation of the legal aid defence counsel system, strengthening legal services clinics, strengthening jail legal services clinics, and strengthening the monitoring and mentoring committees at the district level.
Apart from the above, it also expected that there will be an enhanced and improved public trust, minimization of unnecessary arrests, effective representation of prisoners at the remand stage and better visibility and dissemination of legal awareness through increased outreach programmes. It is added that the upcoming year would also be centered to meet the legal requirements of the marginalized and vulnerable people’s needs
NALSA was constituted in the year 1987 with a vision to promote an inclusive legal system in order to ensure fair and meaningful justice to the marginalized and disadvantaged by providing effective representation and awareness.