Public Legal Awareness · NALSA Calendar · Faridabad

National Lok Adalat 2026 — Dates, and How Challan Settlement Actually Works

Last updated: 31 July 2026 · By Advocate Manish Sharma, Faridabad · General legal information, not legal advice

In short: NALSA has fixed the 2026 National Lok Adalats for the second Saturdays of March, May, September and December — 14 March (some States notified 22 March), 9 May, 12 September, and 12 December 2026. With the March and May sittings over, the next National Lok Adalat is Saturday, 12 September 2026. The single largest category settled on these days is compoundable traffic challans — settlement is free, requires no advocate, and any reduction in the challan amount is decided by the bench on the day, not promised in advance. The route runs through the District Legal Services Authority and, for e-challans, the token/registration process notified for that sitting.

The 2026 calendar — and where it comes from

The National Lok Adalat calendar for 2026 was fixed by NALSA (Member Secretary’s communication of 4 December 2025) on the second-Saturday pattern: 14 March 2026 (a few States notified or rescheduled theirs to 22 March), 9 May 2026, 12 September 2026, and 12 December 2026. State Legal Services Authorities publish the operative notification for each sitting, and Haryana follows the national calendar. This page tracks the NALSA schedule; the authoritative source for any sitting is always the NALSA / State authority notification itself.

Which challans can be settled — and which cannot

Lok Adalat jurisdiction covers compoundable offences only (Section 19(5), Legal Services Authorities Act) — which in the traffic context means the ordinary run of e-challans and court challans for compoundable violations. Non-compoundable matters — a drink-drive case under Section 185 MV Act being the everyday example — cannot be settled at a Lok Adalat and remain before the Magistrate. Knowing which side of that line a particular challan falls on is the first question, and the challan decoder guide covers it in detail.

How the settlement day works — step by step

The process is deliberately simple. Ahead of the sitting, the traffic police and DLSA notify the registration route for pending challans — for e-challans this has increasingly meant an online token, printed and carried to the venue. On the day, the person appears before the assigned bench with the token or challan printout and the vehicle’s papers — registration certificate, driving licence, identity proof, and insurance/PUC where asked. The bench takes up the challan, hears the person briefly, and records the settlement; payment of the settled amount closes the matter then and there, with the finality that Section 21 gives every Lok Adalat award.

In Faridabad, the DLSA sits at the Sector 12 court complex, where a traffic-challan help desk has operated for these sittings — and the scale is substantial: one National Lok Adalat here saw seventeen benches settle 42,164 cases, 24,636 of them traffic challans.

How much is a challan actually reduced at a Lok Adalat?

The honest answer: any reduction is decided by the bench, on the day, case by case — it is a judicial act of settlement, not a published rate. Precedents exist — State authorities have from time to time authorised concessions of around half the pending amount, and sittings in some cities have followed a similar pattern — but no figure is guaranteed, eligibility differs by State, and treating a waiver as assured is the surest way to be disappointed. What the sitting reliably offers is closure: a compoundable challan settled at a Lok Adalat is finished, finally.

Why settling beats sitting on a challan

The cost of ignoring challans has been rising on both the rule-book and enforcement sides. The substituted Rule 167 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (in force 21 January 2026) builds a 45-day response discipline around challans — with Delhi’s rollout reported to require a part-deposit before contesting a rejected online dispute — and in Haryana, Gurugram traffic police have publicly warned of vehicle detention where challans remain unpaid for months. Against that backdrop, the quarterly National Lok Adalat is the cheapest, cleanest exit the system itself offers for the compoundable backlog.

Beyond challans — what else settles on the day

The same benches take up cheque-bounce complaints, bank-recovery and loan one-time settlements, compromise-ready civil disputes, and the terms of matrimonial settlements (the divorce decree itself, as the Lok Adalat pillar guide explains, must come from the Family Court). For anyone weighing whether their pending matter belongs in the next sitting, that is a question of case-strategy — the forum itself remains free and open, with no advocate required to access it.

Frequently asked questions

National Lok Adalat ki agli date kya hai?

2026 me agli National Lok Adalat Saturday, 12 September 2026 ko hai, aur uske baad saal ki aakhri 12 December 2026 ko. Ye dates NALSA ke second-Saturday calendar se hain; har sitting ki operative notification State Legal Services Authority jaari karti hai.

Lok Adalat me challan kaise maaf hota hai?

Sitting se pehle notify hue tareeke se (aksar online token) challan register hota hai; din par bench ke saamne token/challan printout, RC, DL, ID le kar pesh hona hota hai. Bench sun kar settlement record karti hai — koi bhi kami bench us din tay karti hai, pehle se koi fixed kami ka vaada nahi hota. Settled amount bharte hi matter hamesha ke liye band.

Which documents are needed for challan settlement at a Lok Adalat?

Carry the token or challan printout, the vehicle’s registration certificate, your driving licence, identity proof, and insurance/PUC papers where asked. No advocate is required and no fee is charged for the forum itself; only the settled challan amount is paid.

Kya drink and drive ka challan Lok Adalat me settle ho sakta hai?

Nahi — Section 185 MV Act non-compoundable offence hai, aur Section 19(5) LSA Act ke under Lok Adalat ko non-compoundable offences par jurisdiction hi nahi hai. Aisa case Magistrate ke saamne regular side par hi chalta hai.

Is the challan reduction at Lok Adalat guaranteed?

No. Any concession is decided by the bench on the day, varies by State and by challan, and is a judicial act of settlement — not a published rate. Precedents of substantial concessions exist, but nothing is assured in advance; what is assured is finality once settled.