Free legal aid eligibility checker

How to use the eligibility checker

Free legal aid in India is not charity. It is a legal right, flowing from Article 39A of the Constitution and the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, and the Supreme Court has insisted for decades that an accused without the means to hire counsel must be given a lawyer paid for by the State. Yet many people who qualify never ask, because they assume legal aid is only for the very poor. In reality, whole groups of people, including every woman, every child and everyone held in custody, are covered no matter what they earn. The checker above tells you in a few clicks whether you qualify, and where to apply.

What to enter

What the result means

• Eligible by category: you can apply now; income is not relevant.
• Eligible by income: your income is below your state's limit; you may be asked for an affidavit of income.
• Not eligible on these answers: you may still get help through Lok Adalats, mediation, the Tele-Law service or pro bono lawyers, explained below.

On this page

Income limits, and how income is assessed

For people outside the listed categories, eligibility depends on income. The limit is set by each state for its courts, and by the Centre for the Supreme Court. On our latest data:

The complete list for every state and union territory, with the authority to contact and a label showing how each figure was checked, is in the state table above.

An affidavit is usually enough

Section 13(2) of the Act says that an affidavit made by a person about his or her income may be regarded as sufficient for deciding eligibility, unless the authority has reason to disbelieve it. You do not usually need income tax returns or salary slips. Be honest: legal aid obtained by a false affidavit can be withdrawn and the costs recovered.

Which income counts?

Authorities generally look at the applicant's annual income from all sources. Some state rules refer to family income. Where the dispute is with a family member, such as a husband or a son, that person's income should not be counted against the applicant. If you are unsure, state the position honestly in the application and let the authority decide.

Limits change

Income limits are revised from time to time by notification. The figures here were checked on 16 October 2026. If your income is close to the limit, ask the authority for the current figure before deciding not to apply.

How to apply, step by step

There is no single form for the whole country, but the process is similar everywhere and simple by design.

1. Find the right authority. For a case in a district court or a local dispute, go to the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), usually located in the district court complex, or the Taluk Legal Services Committee for a sub-division. High Court matters go to that court's legal services committee, and Supreme Court matters to the committee attached to the Supreme Court.
2. Use the front office. Most court complexes have a legal aid front office or clinic where a panel lawyer or para-legal volunteer helps you fill the application.
3. Fill a short application. Give your name, address, the nature of the dispute or case, the court, and the category you belong to or your income. Attach an affidavit of income if you apply on income grounds, and any certificate you have, such as a caste or disability certificate.
4. Apply online if you prefer. NALSA runs an online legal services management system through which applications can be submitted and tracked; many state authorities also accept applications on their websites.
5. Call 15100. The national legal aid helpline guides callers and can register requests.
6. Wait for assignment. The authority examines the application and, if satisfied, assigns a panel advocate. In urgent matters, such as a bail hearing the next day, tell the front office so the request can be handled immediately.
7. Meet your lawyer. Share all documents, explain the facts and agree how you will stay in touch.

Help before a case: Tele-Law and Nyaya Bandhu

For advice before anything is filed, the Government's Tele-Law service puts people in touch, from village Common Service Centres, with panel lawyers over video or phone, and had delivered over 1.12 crore advice services by the end of February 2026, according to the Law Ministry. The Nyaya Bandhu pro bono programme links people who cannot afford lawyers with advocates who volunteer their time.

Help in jails and courts

Prison legal aid clinics operate in jails, staffed by jail visiting lawyers and para-legal volunteers. Remand advocates are stationed at many magistrates' courts to help people produced after arrest.

Particular groups: points worth knowing

Persons with disabilities

You can ask for accommodations: help in reaching the office, sign language interpretation, documents in accessible formats, or permission to appear by video. Courts can also make reasonable accommodations at hearings. Mention your needs in the application.

Senior citizens

Older people often need help with maintenance from children, property disputes and protection from abuse. Some states, including Delhi, give senior citizens a higher income limit. Applications to the senior citizens tribunal can be prepared with legal aid; see the bedakhli process guide for removing a neglectful child from the home.

Transgender persons

Transgender persons are entitled to legal aid on the general grounds, and some states give them a higher income limit. Legal aid can help with identity documents, discrimination, family disputes and protection against violence.

Survivors of trafficking and bonded labour

Survivors qualify without an income test and can receive help with criminal proceedings, rehabilitation entitlements and compensation.

Acid attack survivors

Survivors can claim compensation and free treatment under the applicable schemes, and legal aid can help with the criminal case and the compensation claim. Delhi lists them among those eligible for legal aid.

Workers in the unorganised sector

Many workers who are not "industrial workmen" in the strict sense still qualify on income. Legal aid can help with unpaid wages, workplace injuries and social security claims.

Migrants

Workers from other states can apply where the dispute or case is. Carry any identity document; lack of local address proof should not be a reason for refusal.

Legal aid by type of case

Legal aid is not limited to criminal defence. The table shows how it typically works in the matters people bring to legal services authorities most often.

Your rights as a legal aid client

• To a competent lawyer who represents you as diligently as a paid lawyer would.
• To receive services without paying the lawyer or the authority.
• To be kept informed about your case, including hearing dates and outcomes.
• To confidentiality in what you tell your lawyer.
• To complain about poor service and ask for a change of lawyer.
• To be treated with respect, without discrimination on any ground.

Legal services authorities are expected to monitor the quality of legal aid through committees that review the progress of cases. If something goes wrong, put your concern in writing to the secretary of the authority.

Working with your panel lawyer

Panel lawyers are practising advocates selected by the legal services authority. Many are experienced; quality, as with private lawyers, varies. A good working relationship makes a real difference.

• Do not pay. A panel lawyer is paid by the authority and must not take money from you. If asked, report it to the DLSA secretary.
• Share everything. Give copies of all documents and tell the full story, including unhelpful facts.
• Stay in touch. Note the next date after each hearing and ask how you will hear about developments.
• Attend when needed. Your presence is required on some dates; ask which.
• Raise problems early. If the lawyer does not appear or respond, speak to the DLSA secretary. You can ask for a change of lawyer, giving reasons.

Authorities also run monitoring and mentoring committees to oversee legal aid work, and complaints about the quality of service can be taken to them.

A maintenance claim with legal aid: what to expect

A woman seeking maintenance for herself and her children usually goes through these stages with a legal aid lawyer: an application at the DLSA front office, which is accepted on the ground that she is a woman; assignment of a panel lawyer within days; drafting of the petition with details of the husband's income and the family's expenses; filing in the family court or before the magistrate, often with a request for interim maintenance; referral to mediation, where many cases settle; and, if there is no settlement, evidence and a final order. Because a court can fix an interim amount early on, she should ask the lawyer to apply for it straight away. Throughout, the lawyer's services, court fees and copies are paid by the authority.

Myths about free legal aid

"Legal aid is only for the very poor."

Many groups qualify without any income test, including all women and children, and the income limit itself is Rs 3 lakh a year in most states.

"Legal aid lawyers are not real lawyers."

Panel lawyers are enrolled advocates, often with years of practice, selected by the legal services authority. Many also have private practices.

"I will have to pay something later."

Legal aid is free. The lawyer must not take money from you. Only in limited situations do rules allow an authority to recover expenses, and you can ask about this at the start.

"Legal aid takes too long to arrange."

In urgent matters, such as a bail hearing, legal aid can be arranged the same day through the remand advocate or the front office. For other matters, it usually takes days, not months.

"Only criminal cases get legal aid."

Family, property, labour, consumer and service matters are covered too, and so is advice where no case has been filed.

"Applying will harm my case."

Courts do not treat aided parties differently. Your application to the authority is not filed in court and does not affect how the judge sees your case.

Legal aid under the new criminal laws

On 1 July 2024 three new statutes took over criminal law: the Nyaya Sanhita in place of the old penal code, the Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita in place of the old procedure code, and the Sakshya Adhiniyam in place of the evidence law. The right to free legal aid continues unchanged in substance: the duty to provide a lawyer to an accused without means now sits in section 341 of the new procedure code, and victim compensation in section 396. The new laws also allow wider use of electronic summons and video hearings, which can make it easier for legal aid lawyers to appear and for people in custody to be produced. If you hear section numbers that do not match older guides, it is usually because of this renumbering, not a change in your rights.

Legal aid for people from other states and countries

The Act speaks of "every person" who meets the criteria, so eligibility is not limited to residents of the state. A migrant worker from another state, for example, can apply to the DLSA where the case is. A foreign national in custody in India is also entitled to legal aid as a person in custody. For cases in another state, apply to the authority where the court is, not where you live.

How legal aid is funded and how lawyers are paid

Legal services authorities are funded mainly by the Central and State Governments, through NALSA and state budgets. Panel lawyers are paid fees by the authority according to a schedule, usually per case or per stage, and full-time defence counsel under the defence counsel system have been paid a fixed monthly amount. Because the fee comes from the authority, the lawyer has no reason to ask you for money, and must not do so. Reporting any demand helps protect other aided people too.

Questions to ask at the front office

• Do I qualify, and on which ground?
• What documents do I need to bring, and is an affidavit required?
• How soon will a lawyer be assigned, and how will I be told?
• Can my matter be settled through mediation or a Lok Adalat?
• Am I entitled to victim compensation, and how do I apply?
• Who do I contact if I cannot reach my lawyer?

Note each answer, along with who gave it. If you are applying for someone in custody, also note the jail and the next court date.

Compensation for victims of crime

Victims of crime, and their dependants, can claim compensation from the State under the victim compensation scheme of each state, provided for in section 396 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (earlier section 357A of the old Code). The legal services authority decides the amount. Separate schemes cover women victims of sexual assault and acid attacks. Interim compensation can be given quickly where immediate medical or other relief is needed, even before the trial ends. Ask the DLSA for the application form; a legal aid lawyer can help prepare it.

Six situations, and how legal aid helped

These examples use invented names and typical facts.

1. A working woman seeking maintenance

Sunita, a schoolteacher earning Rs 40,000 a month, left her marital home after abuse and wanted maintenance for her child and protection orders. She assumed her salary ruled her out. At the DLSA front office she learned that women qualify regardless of income. A panel lawyer filed her domestic violence application and maintenance claim.

2. A son arrested late at night

Ramesh's son was arrested on a theft complaint and produced before the magistrate the next morning. The family had no lawyer. The remand advocate at the court represented him at once, and a bail application was filed through the legal aid office the same week.

3. A daily-wage worker cheated of wages

Imran, an industrial worker, had not been paid for three months when his factory shut. As an industrial workman he qualified without an income test. The DLSA helped him file a claim before the labour authority.

4. A pensioner with a property dispute

Mr Gupta, 68, in Delhi, with a pension of Rs 3.6 lakh a year, wanted to challenge a forged sale of his plot. His income was above the general Rs 3 lakh limit, but within Delhi's higher limit for senior citizens. He applied and was assigned a panel advocate.

5. A convict who never appealed

Lakshmi's brother had been convicted two years earlier and had never filed an appeal because the family could not afford it. Following the Supreme Court's 2024 directions, a jail visiting lawyer met him, explained his right to appeal with legal aid, and the High Court Legal Services Committee filed the appeal with an application for condonation of delay.

6. A dispute settled at a Lok Adalat

A small shopkeeper had a long-pending cheque bounce case against a customer. At a National Lok Adalat, the two agreed on instalments, the case was closed by an award on the day, and the court fee was refunded.

Checklist before you apply

• Category identified, or income worked out honestly.
• Any certificate you have: caste, disability, BPL or similar.
• Affidavit of income ready if applying on income grounds.
• Case details: court, case number, next date, FIR or notice copies.
• Urgency explained if there is a hearing soon.
• Contact number that will be answered.

Mara Vakil's role

Mara Vakil is a technology platform, not a law firm, and is separate from the government's legal services authorities. If you qualify for legal aid, apply to the authority, which is free. If you do not qualify, or want a private advocate, you can describe your matter on Mara Vakil at no cost and enrolment-checked advocates can respond; any fee is agreed directly with them. See how to choose an advocate and all legal calculators.