“8. Learned counsel for the respondents sought to distinguish the judgment in Sai Vuma Chit Fund Company (supra) with the present case by pointing out that in the former case, all the parties were before the Lok Adalat and that in that context, this Court observed that when respondent Nos.4 to 6 did not appear before the Lok Adalat, it should not have passed the Award. In our opinion, there is no difference between a case where all the parties were shown to have been before the Lok Adalat and a case where some of the parties to the litigation were not parties before the Lok Adalat. As held by this Court in Sai Vuma Chit Fund Company (supra), while passing its Award based on settlement simplicitor, the Lok Adalat will not be exercising its adjudicatory power and that under Regulation 17 (1) of 2009 Regulations, drawing up of the Award is merely an administrative act by incorporating the terms of settlement or compromise agreed between the parties under the guidance and assistance from Lok Adalat. Under Regulation 39 (2) of 1999 Regulations, the parties to the dispute shall be required to affix their signatures or, as the case may be, thumb impressions on the Award of the Lok Adalat. In our opinion, the expression “the parties in dispute” is referable to the parties in original dispute before the Court which has been referred to Lok Adalat. If a few of the parties to the dispute are allowed to file compromise petition to the exclusion of other parties, that would give raise to serious complications leading to litigation taking different turns. Such an approach is neither contemplated under the Act or the Regulations made thereunder nor the same is desirable. After all the intendment of law in envisaging settlement of disputes before Lok Adalats is to ensure that all the parties to the dispute arrive at a mutually agreed settlement, so that there will not be further litigation in relation to the dispute which was initially brought before the Court and later referred to the Lok Adalat. Even if some of the parties to the dispute originally instituted remained ex parte , that hardly justifies the Lok Adalat to ignore them while considering passing of the Award, for even the parties who are set ex parte also have certain rights to pursue their claim further by filing an application for setting aside the ex parte
