The Supreme Court observed that an award passed by the Lok Adalat under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (“LSA”) cannot be set aside or annulled by the Executing Court. The proper avenue for challenging the award would be to invoke the supervisory jurisdiction under Article 227 of the Constitution, the Court said.

“The principle that emerges is that the statutory finality attached to a Lok Adalat award leaves no room for an appellate or plenary civil remedy against the award treated as a decree. The award may be executed as a decree, but its validity cannot be reopened through an ordinary civil suit or by treating some other civil proceeding as a vehicle for setting it aside. The only recognised avenue of challenge is the constitutional jurisdiction of the High Court, which is sup

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