Legal Services Authorities after examining the eligibility criteria of an applicant and the existence of a prima facie case in his favour provide him counsel at State expense, pay the required Court Fee in the matter and bear all incidental expenses in connection with the case. The person to whom legal aid is provided is not called upon to spend anything on the litigation once it is supported by a Legal Services Authority.

Section 12 of the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 prescribes the criteria for giving legal services to the eligible persons. Section 12 of the Act reads as under:-
"Every person who has to file or defend a case shall be entitled to legal services under this Act 12 if that person is –
(a) a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe;
(b) a victim of trafficking in human beings or beggar as referred to in Article 23 of the Constitution;
(c) a woman or a child;
(d) a mentally ill or otherwise disabled person;
(e) a person under circumstances of undeserved want such as being a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake or industrial disaster; or
(f) an industrial workman; or
(g) in custody, including custody in a protective home within the meaning of clause (g) of section 2 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (104 of 1956); or in a juvenile home within the meaning of clause; or
(j) of section 2 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 1986 (53 of 1986) or in a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing home within the meaning of clause (g) of section 2 of the Mental Health Act, 1987 (14 of 1987); or
(h) in receipt of annual income of not more than rupees 3,00,000.

1. Legal Aid Counsel Scheme
2. Jail Visitor Advocates
3. Raising of Income Ceiling to avail Legal Aid Facilities
4. Competent & Quality Legal Services to the Aided Persons
5. Accreditation of Non-Governmental Organisations
6. Marriage & Family Counseling Centres
7. Free Legal Aid Centres
8. Observance of Legal Services Day

Statement showing Legal Aid Beneficiaries

Month / Year	SC	ST	Women	Children	In Custody	Persons with disability	Industrial Workmen	Transgender	Victims of Trafficking in human beings or begar	Victims of Mass Disaster, Violence, Flood, Duaught, Earthquake and Industrial Disaster	General (persons whose annual income does not exceed the prescribed limit)	Others	Total
2017	570	566	811	165	4120	232	0	0	0	0	902	512	7878
2018	311	257	580	86	2847	7	0	0	0	0	466	284	4838
2019	163	86	628	8461	2927	22	0	0	0	0	321	146	12754
2020	65	47	378	3931	3841	0	0	0	0	0	139	32	8433
2021	89	39	390	5537	6191	9	0	0	0	0	163	42	12460
2022	119	51	658	6763	2757	21	0	0	0	0	307	36	10712
2023	177	138	762	6427	4266	13	0	0	0	0	460	3	12246

Legal Aid Clinics

Legal Aid Clinics are intended to provide legal relief easily accessible to the indigent and backward sections of our society. They are almost on the lines of primary health centres where a doctor and other auxiliary medical staff provide basic health care to the people situated in village areas affected with poverty and social squalor. Like the doctors rendering health services to the people of the locality in the primary health centre, a lawyer manning the legal aid clinic provides legal services to the people.  The thrust is on the basic legal services like legal advice and assisting in drafting of notices, replies, applications, petitions etc.  The lawyer manning the legal aid clinic will also attempt to resolve the disputes of the people in the locality, preventing the disputes from maturing into litigation.  This provides the lawyer in the legal aid clinic an opportunity to understand the difficulties faced by people in the distant villages’ for access to justice.  Legal aid clinics have to be manned by para-legal volunteers selected by the Legal Services Authorities and lawyers with a sense of commitment, sensibility and sensitiveness to the problems of common people.

Beneficiaries

Statement Showing Applications disposed of through Legal Aid Clinics.

Year	Total No. of Application Received	Total No. of settled off.
2018	75811	68935
2019	31769	36088
2020	10473	11743
2021	1664	1894
2022	2228	2177
2023	3450	3491

Statement showing Legal Aid Beneficiaries (1985 to 2016)

Year	SC	ST	OBC	Women	Children	In Custody	Other	Total
1985	228	1105	25	-	-	196	315	1869
1986	622	780	91	63	-	464	838	2858
1987	1124	1296	108	10	-	777	1006	4321
1988	975	1179	78	01	-	461	644	3338
1989	336	944	19	02	-	251	297	1849
1990	114	706	21	-	-	162	170	1173
1991	129	141	26	20	-	59	162	537
1992	403	1129	59	17	-	349	401	2358
1993	492	1468	93	16	-	506	517	3092
1994	942	1489	177	15	-	657	644	3924
1995	596	939	359	02	-	648	693	3237
1996	497	874	240	06	-	444	514	2575
1997	485	1155	215	23	-	458	542	2878
1998	417	364	173	13	-	419	612	1998
1999	432	739	-	415	01	276	599	2462
2000	444	663	-	530	10	383	694	2724
2001	578	1153	-	778	08	793	979	4289
2002	692	1010	21	875	53	955	1375	4981
2003	1054	1761	262	1220	13	1411	1611	7332
2004	1218	1825	562	1123	43	1447	1937	8155
2005	1048	1133	837	952	38	1475	1153	6636
2006	1166	1375	851	960	39	1771	961	7123
2007	508	731	454	557	28	1195	547	4020
2008	577	710	531	725	27	1732	536	4838
2009	569	486	496	501	56	1314	345	3767
2010	637	610	548	718	55	1841	553	4962
2011	446	532	456	503	19	1004	494	3454
2012	500	702	516	632	51	2277	544	5222
2013	696	470	559	814	33	2169	1119	5860
2014	766	640	614	544	33	2731	1479	6807
2015	831	766	721	694	45	2796	1389	7242
2016	757	744	586	650	49	2275	1142	6203

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beneficiaries

Statement Showing Applications disposed of through Legal Services clinics.

Year	Total No. of Application Received	Total No. of settled off.
2004	3709	3214
2005	3945	3833
2006	2514	2336
2007	2568	2338
2008	2986	2781
2009	12777	12732
2010	4360	2754
2011	3827	3547
2012	5193	3397
2013	8060	7098
2014	12254	11450
2015	23409	21259
2016	18720	13460
2017	26504	24771