More legal aid clinics coming up

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More legal aid clinics coming up

Thursday, Feb 11, 2010

CHENNAI: With 11 more legal aid clinics for the HIV infected to come up in the

State, positive persons in 16 districts of the State will be served by free

legal services and counselling.

The districts in which one clinic each will be inaugurated are Chennai,

Dharmapuri, Villupuram, Krishnagiri, Salem, Tiruchi, Tirupur, Karur, Theni,

Tuticorin and Kanyakumari.

To be set up by the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Authority in association with

the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority, the centres will be manned by an

advocate and counsellor appointed by the latter.

Each clinic will be set up at a cost of Rs.2 lakh, received as funding from the

National AIDS Control Organisation.

The clinics are meant to directly address issues of people living with HIV/AIDS,

especially widows, destitute women and children, with sensitivity.

They are a step in the direction of providing easy access to legal services

wherever anyone has been wronged, or there is a denial of services, according to

the policy note.

Completely free services will be provided at these clinics. There has been a

great demand from the districts for such clinics, especially since the first

five clinics were able to redress the grievances of people who were infected

with HIV and could not afford legal services,†S. Vijayakumar, Project

Director, TANSACS, said.

Mostly, cases concerning property disputes, alimony and inter-familial disputes

come up at the clinics. So far, the five clinics already set up in Namakkal,

Dindigul, Madurai, Cuddalore and Tirunelveli districts have received a total of

1,913 non-legal and 432 legal petitions.

Of these, 270 legal petitions and 1,011 non-legal cases have been settled,

according to official figures. A substantial percentage of the clients at the

legal aid were women. In several instances, disputes have been settled at the

mere instance of the counsellor, even before taking the legal route, according

to officials.

Source:Hindu

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Tarit Chakraborty.

Vice-President BNP+.

Secretary NHP+{Network of Hooghly People LIving with HIV/AIDS}.

E-Mail-tarit34@...//tarit34@....

Phone-09836813069