In India, Legal Services Authorities provide free legal services to which of the following type of citizens? 1) Person with an annual income of less than Rs. 1,00,000 2) Transgender with an annual income of less than Rs. 2,00,000 3) Member of Other Backward Classes (OBC) with an annual income of less than Rs. 3,00,000 Select the correct answer using the code given below:

The answer is A (1 and 2 only). The governing law is the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987, and its Section 12 lists who is entitled to free legal services.

• Statement 1 is correct. Section 12(h) covers persons whose annual income is below the limit prescribed by the appropriate government. States notify their own ceilings, often around Rs 1 lakh, and these have been revised over time, so the figure is not fixed in the Act.
• Statement 2 is treated as correct in the key. Transgender persons were brought within the entitled categories through an amendment to the Act. The Act does not attach the Rs 2 lakh income test to them in the way the option suggests, so this statement is the weaker of the two.
• Statement 3 is wrong. OBCs are not a category under Section 12. The entitled social groups are Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, along with women, children, victims of trafficking, persons in custody, persons with disabilities, and others.

Mains connection: this ties into access to justice under Article 39A, which directs the State to provide free legal aid so that opportunities for justice are not denied by economic or other disabilities.

Trap: aspirants assume OBCs get free legal aid because they get reservation benefits. Free legal aid under Section 12 is limited to SC/ST, not OBC.