Government of J&K
Citizen Centric Services J&K
Legal Services Authorities provide legal services to accused/
convicts, who are in custody or otherwise coming within the eligibility criteria
spelt out in Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Legal Services
are being provided at pre-arrest, remand, trial and appellate stages in criminal
matters. Legal representation is being provided by the Legal Services Authorities
in approximately 2 lac criminal cases (trials) at the district level. Read More..
The J&K LSA has initiated the constitution of Special Drug Awareness and Wellness Navigation units across the UT of J&K.This initiative is a part of a comprehensive strategy aimed at addressing the complex and multifaced challenges posed by the alarming rise in drug abuse and addiction particularly among the youth. Present Scheme is designed to meet the multifaceted challenges posed by the growing menace of drug addiction. This Scheme ensures a holistic approach to access to justice, enhancing legal awareness, fostering community engagement and ultimately paving the way towards a healthier, safer and drug-free India.
This initiative aims to institutionalise legal aid outreach by embedding it within the existing framework of Local Self-Government Institutions (LSGI). Recognising the pivotal role that grassroots governance bodies play in community development and public service delivery, the Jammu & Kashmir Legal Services Authority seeks to leverage this existing administrative and social infrastructure to expand the reach and impact of its legal aid services. By collaborating with LSGI and using community institutions such as PanchayatBhawans, Nagar panchayats, local schools and dispensaries, the Scheme ensures that JK LSA's legal aid initiatives effectively reach every eligible beneficiary at the grassroots level.
The ASHA scheme is a program focused on Awareness, Support, Help, and Action related to eliminating child marriage. It aims to provide legal aid, support, and rehabilitation to victims and potential victims of child marriage. The scheme aims to sensitise communities, families and children about the legal implications and harmful consequences of child marriage.
The NALSA (SAMVAD) Scheme, 2025 aims to strengthen access to justice for marginalized communities, specifically Adivasis, Denotified Tribes (DNTs), and Nomadic Tribes (NTs), by providing free legal aid, enhancing legal awareness, and facilitating access to essential documentation and welfare schemes. Through mobile legal aid clinics, trained tribal panel lawyers, and Para Legal Volunteers, the scheme promotes legal literacy and addresses local legal challenges via community outreach tools like street plays and door-to-door campaigns. It seeks to bridge the justice gap by empowering these vulnerable groups and integrating them into the formal legal system.
The NALSA Veer Parivar Sahayata Yojana, 2025, stands as a modest yet deeply significant tribute to that collective sacrifice. It is far more than a scheme; it is a solemn reaffirmation of the nation's enduring duty to ensure that defence personnel, veterans and their families are afforded prompt, dignified, and readily accessible legal assistance. This initiative honours the unspoken promise we owe to those who guard our freedom: that while they protect the nation, the nation will defend their rights.
During the year 2009 National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) brought out a scheme called the Para-Legal Volunteers Scheme which aimed at imparting legal training to volunteers selected from different walks of life so as to ensure legal aid reaching all sections of people through the process of Para-Legal Volunteers Scheme; ultimately removing the barriers into access to justice. The Para-Legal Volunteers (PLVs) are expected to act as intermediaries bridging the gap between the common people and the Legal Services Institutions to remove impediments in access to justice. Ultimately, the process aims at Legal Services Institutions reaching out to the people at their doorsteps rather than people approaching such Legal Services Institutions.
The objective of the scheme is to provide legal services to the victims of disaster - both man made and natural - who are under circumstances of undeserved want being victims of mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocities, flood, drought, earth-quake or industrial disasters.
The objective of the Scheme is to provide legal services to address the concems of victims of trafficking including women of all age groups and at every stage: ie prevention, rescue and rehabilitation. The thrust of the scheme is to provide economic and social path ways for these marginalised groups so that they are socially inciuded and thus get all social protections available to an ordinary citizen. The Interventions of the legal services Authorities should be to ensure the protection of the dignity ofthe victims which is as much their fundamental right to a life as of any other citizen.
The schemes and the benefits available thereunder are not being sufficiently publicised. Workers in the unorganized sector being generally uneducated and not unionised are mostly unaware of the schemes. Workers Facilitation Centres as envisaged under section 19 of the Social Security Act 2008 have not been set up by any State.
This Scheme strives to strengthen and ensure the provision of child-friendly legal services by LSIs in India. The Scheme will ensure that children, including children with disabilities, have access to expert, specialized and competent legal practitioners and are empowered to understand their legal rights, entitlements, court processes and procedures. Additionally, LSIs are mandated to conduct community outreach programmes to identify and assist children most vulnerable to falling out of the social safety net.
Persons with disabilities, especially those suffering from mental illness or intellectual disabilities, face a unique set of challenges within the legal system. Mental illness may impact a person's ability to understand legal proceedings and make informed decisions. Effective legal representation can help such persons navigate legal complexities and ensure that they are treated in a fair and equitable manner.
To strengthen legal aid and support services at the national, state, district and taluka levels for persons belonging to socially or economically weaker sections in accessing Poverty Alleviation Schemes: . This scheme is built on the foundation that poverty is a multi-dimensional experience and is not limited to issues of income. Multi-dimensional poverty include issues like health (including mental health), housing, nutrition, employment, pension, maternal care, child mortality, access towater, education, sanitation, subsidies and basic services, social -exclusion, discrimination etc.
The main objectives of the Scheme are as follows: To outline the basic rights and benefits that should be accorded to senior citizens; To strengthen legal aid and representation at the national, state, district and taluka levels for senior citizens who are entitled under Section 12 ofthe Legal Services Authorities Act, 19872 in availing the benefits of the various legal provisions which exist; To ensure access to various Governmental Schemes and programmes to the senior citizens; To ensure that the authorities and institutions such as the Tribunals and the Appellate Tribunals under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, old age homes for senior citizens have been established; To create and spread awareness about the rights and entitlements of the senior citizens under the various laws and Governmental Schemes and programmes through the District Legal Services Authorities, Taluka Legal Services Committees, panel lawyers, para-legal volunteers, students and legal services clinics; To enhance capacities at all levels of panel lawyers, para-legal volunteers, volunteers in legal services clinics, government officers tasked with the implementation of the various schemes, service providers, police personnel, non-governmental organizations by organizing training, orientation and sensitization programmes; and To undertake research and documentation to study the various schemes, laws etc. to find out the gaps, needs and to make suggestions to the appropriate authorities.
The main obj ecrives of the Scheme are as follows: To strengthened legal aid and representation at the national. state, district and taluka levels for victims of acid attack.; in availing the benetits of the varuious legal provisions and schemes for compensation which exist; To enable the victims of acid attacks to get access to medical facilities and rehabililative services; To create and spread awareness about the entitlements of all victims of acid attacks through the District Legal Services Authorities, Taluka Legal Services Committees, panel lawyers, para-legal volunteers and legal services clinics; To enhance the capacity at all levels of panel lawyers. para-legal volunteers, vo1uteers in legal services clinics, govemment officers tasked with the implementation of the various schemes, service providers, police personnel, non-governmental organizations by organizing training orienttion and sensitization programmes; and To take research and documentation to study the various schemes, laws etc. to find out the gaps, the needs and to make suggestions to the appropriate authorities. The ultimate objective ofthe Scheme is to ensure that the victims of acid attacks are appropriately rehabilitated in the society and Iive with dignity.
This scheme shall apply to the victims and their dependent(s) who have suffered loss, injury, as the case may be, as a result of the offence committed and who require rehabilitation. (2) This scheme shall also apply to the child who has suffered mental or physical trauma and is entitled to compensation under sub-section (8) of section 34 of the Jammu and Kashmir Protection of Children from Sexual Violence Act, 2018 with a modification that compensation may be awarded by the Special Court till any compensation scheme is framed under the said Act.
The Legal Aid Defense Counsel System (LADCS) Scheme, 2022 is a Central Sector initiative launched by NALSA to provide free and dedicated legal aid in criminal cases to eligible individuals under Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Modeled after the public defender system, LADCS replaces the earlier panel lawyer approach with full-time legal aid lawyers who exclusively handle legal aid cases from pre-arrest to appellate stages. Each district-level LADCS office includes a Chief Legal Aid Counsel, Deputy Counsels, and Assistant Counsels, supported by interns and paralegals, ensuring timely, professional, and accountable legal representation for underprivileged and disadvantaged individuals.
The Legal Aid Clinics Scheme, 2010, launched by the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), aims to provide accessible and affordable legal services to marginalized and disadvantaged communities, especially in remote and rural areas. Modeled after primary health centers, these clinics are staffed by committed lawyers and para-legal volunteers who offer basic legal assistance such as advice, drafting of legal documents, and dispute resolution to prevent litigation. Located in easily accessible places like village panchayat offices, the clinics serve as grassroots legal service hubs, bridging the gap between justice and the underserved population.
The Jammu & Kashmir Victim Compensation Schemes of 2013 and 2019 were formulated to provide financial relief and rehabilitation to victims of crimes. The 2013 scheme, under Section 545-A of the J&K Criminal Procedure Code, established a Victim Compensation Fund to support victims or their dependents who suffered loss or injury due to criminal acts. Compensation was awarded after due verification by the District Legal Services Authority, with amounts varying based on the nature of the crime and rehabilitation needs. The 2019 scheme, approved by the State Administrative Council, expanded the scope to cover 15 categories of victims, including heinous crimes like gang rape, acid attacks, custodial torture, and human trafficking. It increased compensation amounts to ₹2 lakh–₹10 lakh, introduced new categories like death by police torture and mental agony from trafficking, and reinforced the role of the Legal Services Authorities in disbursing aid from the Victim Compensation Fund