Free legal aid: who qualifies, and the income limits

The eight grounds in Section 12

Clause (a)

a member of a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled TribeSection 12(a), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Clause (b)

a victim of trafficking in human beings or of begar, as referred to in article 23 of the ConstitutionSection 12(b), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Clause (c)

a woman or a child. NALSA's own FAQ states this ground applies irrespective of income or financial status.Section 12(c), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Clause (d)

a person with disability. Section 12(d) as published on India Code still defines disability by reference to the Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, which the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 has since replaced. Which definition a given Authority applies is not established here.Section 12(d), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Clause (e)

a person in circumstances of undeserved want — a victim of a mass disaster, ethnic violence, caste atrocity, flood, drought, earthquake or industrial disasterSection 12(e), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Clause (f)

an industrial workmanSection 12(f), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Clause (g)

a person in custody, including custody in a protective home, a juvenile home, or a psychiatric hospital or psychiatric nursing homeSection 12(g), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Clause (h)

a person whose annual income is below the ceiling set for the State. Section 12(h) itself sets ₹9,000 a year (₹12,000 where the case is before the Supreme Court) and lets the State Government, or for the Supreme Court the Central Government, prescribe a higher amount. Every State has.Section 12(h), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

What the Act itself fixes

Section 12(h), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Section 13(1), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Section 13(2), Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 (39 of 1987)

Income limits by State and Union Territory

NALSA, income ceiling under Section 12(h), FAQ 30 (nalsa.gov.in/faqs/), as published July 2025

Not established

• The ceilings come from NALSA's consolidated table, which gives the amount but not the notification it was prescribed by, and the State Rules that would supply the rule number and the date it took effect could not be obtained. No ceiling here can therefore be dated.
• The Maharashtra State Legal Services Authority Rules, 1998 as uploaded by MSLSA in June 2024 read ₹72,000 at rule 16, with an asterisk that has no matching footnote. NALSA's 2025 table reads ₹3,00,000. The amending notification was not found, so the higher figure is used on NALSA's authority and the discrepancy is left visible rather than reconciled.
• NALSA lists Dadra & Nagar Haveli at ₹15,000 and Daman & Diu at ₹1,00,000. The two have been one Union territory since 2020, and which of the two prescriptions survived the merger is not established. Picking either would be a guess, so no ceiling is stated for that territory.
• Not a section 12 ground. NALSA states that eligibility here depends on the Rules made by the respective State Government, and those State Rules could not be obtained. Nothing is claimed.

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