As many as 17 benches have been set up at the venue — the New Judicial Court Complex — to clear the backlog of pending traffic cases and challans.

District and Sessions Judge G K Rai, inaugurated the Lok Adalat today. Rai took a round of all the benches and supervised the functioning.

He said: “Out of the total 12,000 pending challans, around 6,000 were cleared today by imposing reasonable penalties/fines.”

He added that two enquiry counters have been set up in the complex and arrangements of drinking water have also been made for the people attending the Lok Adalat.

“Tomorrow, on the second and concluding day of the Lok Adalat, the remaining challans and cases are expected to be cleared. This will provide substantial relief to the overloaded courts,” said Rai.