Updated: Friday July 06, 2018/AlJumaa
Shawwal 23, 1439/Sukravara
Asadha 15, 1940, at 07:56:59 PM
[1]The
(Act XIX of 2018)
[24 May 2018]
An Act to provide of the establishment of a
legal aid agency to provide legal aid to the indigent persons.
It is necessary to establish and maintain the Punjab Legal
Aid Agency to provide legal aid to the indigent persons; and, for matters
ancillary thereto.
Be it enacted by Provincial Assembly of the
1. Short
title, extent and commencement.– (1) This Act
may be cited as the Punjab Legal Aid Act, 2018.
(2) It shall extend to whole of the
(3) It shall come into force at once.
2. Definitions.– (1) In this Act:---
(a) “Act”
means the Punjab Legal Aid Act 2018;
(b) “Agency”
means the Punjab Legal Aid Agency established under the Act;
(c) “court”
means a court established under any law for the time being in force;
(d) “Director
General” means the Director General of the Agency;
(e) “family
dispute” means a dispute, involving a female indigent person, relating to
divorce, maintenance, dowry, dower or custody of children;
(f) “Government”
means Government of the
(g) “indigent
person” means a person, involved in the commission of an offence or a female
involved in a family dispute, and does not have the financial capacity to
engage an Advocate on his or her own;
(h) “legal
aid” means the legal services provided by an Advocate to an indigent person
under the Act;
(i) “prescribed”
means prescribed by rules; and
(j) “rules” means the rules made under the Act.
(2) A
word or expression used in the Act and not defined shall have the same meaning
as is assigned to it in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (V of 1898) or the Legal Practitioners and Bar
Councils Act, 1973 (XXXV of
1973).
3.
(2) The Agency shall consist of the
Director General and such other employees as the Government may, in the manner
prescribed, appoint.
4. Functions of the Agency.– (1) The
Agency shall:---
(a) evolve
policies, principles and guidelines for providing legal aid;
(b) design
and establish an effective mechanism for provision, monitoring and evaluation
of legal aid;
(c) advise
the Government or any other agency in regard to enforcement of the right to
fair trial and due process;
(d) undertake
and promote research in the field of legal aid with special reference to the
need of such aid to the indigent persons;
(e) devise
and recommend structure of fees for legal aid for approval of the Government;
(f) perform
such other functions as may be assigned to it by the Government; and
(g) do all other
things necessary for carrying out the purposes of the Act.
5. Superintendence
of the Agency.– The superintendence and control of the Agency shall vest in
the Government and shall be exercised in the prescribed manner.
6. Administration
of the Agency.– (1) The administration of the Agency shall vest in the
Director General who shall be responsible for effective administration and
management of the affairs of the Agency so as to ensure that the objectives of
the Act are faithfully accomplished.
(2) The
Director General shall exercise such administrative and financial powers as may
be prescribed or assigned by the Government.
7. Director
General.– (1) The Director General of the Agency shall be appointed
by the Government on such terms and conditions as may be prescribed.
(2) The
Director General shall, unless sooner removed in the prescribed manner, hold
office for three years or for such further period as the Government may
determine.
(3) The
Director General may tender resignation to the Government and he shall cease to
hold office on the communication of acceptance of the resignation.
8. Duty
to provide legal aid.– The Agency shall make appropriate arrangements for the
provision of legal aid to an indigent person in such manner and to such extent
as may be prescribed.
9. Provision
of legal aid.– (1) An indigent person seeking legal aid shall apply, in
the prescribed manner, to the Agency.
(2) The application for legal aid shall be
supported by an affidavit sworn by the applicant and such other documents as
may be prescribed.
(3) The eligibility of an indigent person
for legal aid shall be determined in the prescribed manner.
(4) If
the Agency is satisfied that the applicant is an indigent person and fulfils
the requirements of the law, it shall provide him the legal aid; otherwise, the
Agency shall reject the application.
(5) A person aggrieved against the order
passed under subsection (4) may submit an appeal, within seven days from the
communication of the order to him, to such authority as may be prescribed.
(6) The Agency, after affording an
opportunity of hearing, may recall the provision of legal aid at any stage of
the case, for reasons of misstatement, misrepresentation or fraud.
(7) The provision of legal aid to a person
under the Act is without prejudice to the powers of a court available to it
under any law for the time being in force.
10. Panel of
Advocates.– (1) The
Agency shall, for each financial year, accredit a panel of Advocates in the
prescribed manner in each district or, if necessary, in any tehsil for
provision of legal aid.
(2) The Agency shall initiate the process
of accreditation of the Advocates for the next financial year maximum in the
first week of April of that year.
(3) Notwithstanding
the conclusion of a financial year, the panel of Advocates accredited for the
outgoing financial year shall continue to serve till such time that the new
panel for that financial year is notified.
(4) The
Agency may, in the prescribed manner, classify the accredited Advocates for
purposes of providing legal aid to different classes of persons or courts or
both.
(5) The
Agency shall not, at any one time, allocate the cases of legal aid to an
Advocate on the panel in excess of the number prescribed.
(6) The Agency shall monitor and evaluate
the quality of legal aid provided by each accredited Advocate.
(7) An
accredited Advocate shall maintain a proper record of the cases entrusted to
him and shall provide information to the Agency at such time and in such manner
as may be prescribed.
11. Code of
Conduct.– (1) The Government, on the recommendations of the Agency,
may prescribe a Code of Conduct for accredited Advocates.
(2) The
Agency may suspend or, subject to hearing, cancel the accreditation when he is
found guilty of breach of that Code.
12. Payment.– The Director General shall promptly make payment of such
professional fee, after deduction of the applicable taxes, to an Advocate
engaged for legal aid as may be prescribed or approved by the Government.
13. Unauthorized
disclosure.– (1) Except for purposes of this Act and subject to law, the
Director General and no employee of the Agency shall disclose any information
relating to an indigent person to any unauthorized person.
(2) Any unauthorized disclosure of
information shall be construed as ‘misconduct’ within the meaning of the Punjab
Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability Act 2006 (XII of 2006) and shall be dealt with accordingly.
14. Information
to indigent persons.– A court or, as the
case may be, an investigating officer, a prosecutor or a prison officer shall,
on coming to know that an indigent person remains undefended by an Advocate,
shall inform him that he may apply to the Agency for legal aid.
15. Annual report.– (1) The Director General shall, by 30th September each year, submit the annual
performance report of the Agency enumerating all the activities performed by it
during the previous financial year, its successes and failures, the social
impact of free legal aid and its future plans and targets.
(2) The Director General shall submit the
report to the Government which may, in its discretion, lay the report before
Provincial Assembly of the
16. Furnishing
false information.– A person who intentionally makes a false declaration or
swears a false affidavit in support of his application for legal aid shall be
punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to
six months but which shall not be less than seven days.
17. Cognizance
of offence.– (1) An offence under the Act shall not be cognizable.
(2) No
court shall take cognizance of an offence under the Act, except on a complaint
in writing made by the Director General or any person authorized by him for the
purpose.
18. Delegation
of powers.– The Director General may delegate any of his powers, except
the powers delegated to him, to any employee of the Agency.
19. Rules.– The Government may, by notification in the official
Gazette, make rules for carrying out the purposes of the Act.
20. Removal
of difficulties.– If any difficulty arises in giving effect to or applying
the provisions of the Act, the Government may, within two years from the
commencement of the Act, make such order, not inconsistent with the Act or the
rules, as may be necessary for removal of such difficulty.
[1] This Act was passed by the Punjab Assembly
on 16 May 2018; assented to by the Governor of the
Go to Index
| LL. B. – I | LL. B. – II
| LL. B. – III | LL. B.
Directory | Home