The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has stated that the contracts of Legal Aid Defence Counsels (LADCs) in Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh will not be renewed September 2026 onwards.The directions came a day after lawyers from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh met the Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant to discuss the issue.NALSA also made it clear that contracts in the remaining states and UTs will not be renewed upon completion of their existing contractual tenure.It further stated that district judges, in the meanwhile, will assign legal aid matters to members of the Bar, preferably young lawyers.A communication in this regard, dated August 4, was issued by NALSA Member Secretary Sanjiv Pandey to the member secretaries of all State Legal Services Authorities.According to the communication, the Competent Authority held a meeting on August 3 with representatives of the Bar Associations of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh pursuant to representations received from the Bar Associations regarding the implementation of the Legal Aid Defence Counsel System Scheme.The communication stated that the competent authority had earlier urged the Bar representatives “to provide specific, constructive inputs on the operational loopholes of the scheme” as the committee for revisiting the LADCS stood constituted.