Firstly, please note that if both parties are willing to compromise, then the civil case can be decided by the civil court itself on the basis of such compromise or settlement between the parties. There is no need to go to the Lok Adalat for this purpose. It is provided under Order 23 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Code, which is reproduced below:
“3. Compromise of suit.— Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Court that a suit has been adjusted wholly or in part by any lawful agreement or compromise, in writing and signed by the parties or where the defendant satisfies the plaintiff in respect of the whole or any part of the subject-matter of the suit, the Court shall order such agreement, compromise or satisfaction to be recorded, and shall pass a decree in accordance therewith so far as it relates to the parties to the suit, whether or not the subject-matter of the agreement, compromise or satisfaction is the same as the subject-matter of the suit:
Provided that where it is alleged by one party and denied by the other that an adjustment or satisfaction has been arrived at, the Court shall decide the question; but no adjournment shall be granted for the purpose of deciding the question, unless the Court, for reasons to be recorded, thinks fit to grant such adjournment.
Explanation.— An agreement or compromise which is void or voidable under the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (9 of 1872), shall not be deemed to be lawful within the meaning of this rule.”
Secondly, presuming that you still want to go to Lok Adalat for settlement of the issue between the two parties, again, the civil court itself has the power to refer the case to Lok Adalat and there is no need to withdraw the case and then file the case afresh in Lok Adalat. This is possible under Section 89 of the CPC, which empowers the civil court to refer the case to Lok Adalat. This section is as under:
“89. Settlement of disputes outside the Court.— (1) Where it appears to the court that there exist elements of a settlement which may be acceptable to the parties, the Court shall formulate the terms of settlement and give them to the parties for their observations and after receiving the observations of the parties, the court may reformulate the terms of a possible settlement and refer the same for—
(a) arbitration;
(b) conciliation;
(c) judicial settlement including settlement through Lok Adalat; or
(d) mediation.
(2) Where a dispute has been referred—
(a) for arbitration or conciliation, the provisions of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 (26 of 1996) shall apply as if the proceedings for arbitration or conciliation were referred for settlement under the provisions of that Act;
(b) to Lok Adalat, the Court shall refer the same to the Lok Adalat in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 20 of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (39 of 1987) and all other provisions of that Act shall apply in respect of the dispute so referred to the Lok Adalat;
(c) for judicial settlement, the Court shall refer the same to a suitable institution or person and such institution or person shall be deemed to be a Lok Adalat and all the provisions of the Legal Services Authority Act, 1987 (39 of 1987) shall apply as if the dispute were referred to a Lok Adalat under the provisions of that Act;
(d) for mediation, the Court shall effect a compromise between the parties and shall follow such procedure as may be prescribed.”
Thirdly, if you are still keen to withdraw the case from the civil court and then approach the Lok Adalat, then you can do so under Order 23 Rule 1 of the CPC which allows the plaintiff to withdraw the suit with liberty to institute a fresh suit.
Now, to answer the other part of your question, relating to not involving the lawyer in this whole exercise, if you have engaged a lawyer for your civil case, then naturally he would be involved in whatever action you take in that civil case. However, you can cancel the Vakalatnama of the lawyer and discharge him from the civil case if you don’t want to involve him in such compromise / settlement. In that situation, he would no more be your lawyer in that case.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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