The Cuddalore chapter of the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority has come to the rescue of cyclone-affected people in the district, who have lost vital documents such as passports, birth certificates, ration cards, court papers and so on. Chairman of the District Legal Services Authority K.Uthirapathy, who is also Principal District and Sessions Court Judge, has taken the initiative to help such people. They would otherwise have to undergo cumbersome procedure of approaching the respective departments or agencies to get duplicates after surmounting legal hurdles and time lapses. Mr. Justice Uthirapathy has, therefore, drafted a well-laid-out plan to provide legal backing to those people to speed up the issuance of documents after due verification. He has deployed 95 lawyers on the rolls of the District Legal Services Authority to the affected villages to conduct legal aid camps and to collect petitions. Sources in the Legal Services Authority told The Hindu that the response was overwhelming and so far it received 550 petitions, including 177 from Cuddalore taluk, 180 from Panruti taluk and 193 from Neyveli taluk. The missing documents include pension books, share certificates, life insurance policies, receipts for having pledged jewels with banks and bank passbooks. There were at least six “missing passport cases” and these would be taken up after going through scrutiny to avoid fake claims. Sources said affected people may be in the dark as to who to approach in this regard and hence, the Authority would liaise with the appropriate authorities to get the replacements. For instance, after the 2004 tsunami, the government had announced waiver of tuition fees for students hailing from affected areas but certain schools ignored the direction and continued with fees collection. At the intervention of the Authority, the Chief Educational Officer strictly instructed those schools to stop collecting the fees. Sources said that though no time-frame was fixed for getting the alternative documents, it was hoped that the departments would deal with the petitions processed through the Authority with alacrity. However, the sources pointed out that there were instances of misleading claims in which people who had lost their documents earlier also wanted to exploit the situation. But in such cases, the Authority would insist upon following legal procedures, for instance, obtaining the First Information Report from police in case of missing passports. There would be no overlooking of established practices but only felicitating approach to obtain the required documents without undue delay. Sources also said that the Authority had organised as many as 209 legal aid and legal literacy camps in the district and the influx of petitions was the direct outcome of such an endeavour. Sources further said that during the last calendar year, the Authority settled 3,519 of 4,273 cases (pending in courts) involving payment of compensation amounting to over Rs. 34.19 crore and 1,516 pre-litigation cases, including compensation to those who provided lands to the Neyveli Lignite Corporation, totalling over Rs 11.44 crore. The cyclone affected people can contact the Authority at 04142—231183 and 284510 from 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., and again from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on working days, and, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays for free counselling.