A national Lok Adalat and two special Lok Adalats will be held across Dakshina Kannada in the period between July and November 2026.

Talking to reporters in Mangaluru on Tuesday, Principal District Judge and chairman of District Legal Services Authority Basavaraj said the second national Lok Adalat will be held across 46 courts in Dakshina Kannada on July 11.

In the first national Lok Adalat held this March, 3,197 cases were disposed of and the total quantum of settlement came to around ₹19.06 crore.

One special Lok Adalat will be held between July 18 and November 11 for the settlement of cases related to dishonour of cheques. There were 13,357 cases related to this issue in Dakshina Kannada courts. Judicial officers will select cases likely to be settled and refer it for the Lok Adalat, Mr. Basavaraj said.

DLSA member-secretary Zaibunnissa said some of the cheque bounce cases were pending at the stage of issue of summons to the accused. The police will be asked to expedite serving of summons, which will help the accused to take part in the proceedings for settlement of those cases.

Mr. Basavaraj said a ‘Samadhan Samavesh’ special Lok Adalat will be held from August 21 to 23 to settle 43 cases from Dakshina Kannada pending in the Supreme Court. He said the 43 cases were among the 4,328 cases from Karnataka that have been selected by the apex court for settlement.

As per figures available on National Judicial Data Grid, there are a total of 56,337 cases pending in 46 courts of the district, as on May 12. Of this, 34,070 were criminal and 22,267 were civil. As many as, 24,248 (43%) were pending for less than a year, 16,293 (29%) between one and three years, 7,248 (13%) for three and five years, 7,166 (13%) for five and 10 years, and 1,382 (2%) for more than 10 years. Of the pending cases, 7,523 (13%) were filed by senior citizens and 4,588 (8%) by women.

Mr. Basavaraj said during the Lok Adalat, priority will be given for settlement of cases pending for five and more years.

The Lok Adalat was giving preference for the settlement of cases related to senior citizens and women, he said.