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Centre planning village courts

Union Minister of State for Law and Justice K. Venkatapathy.

Kozhikode: Union Minister of State for Law and Justice K. Venkatapathy has said that the UPA government is planning a Bill so as to set up ‘gram nyayalayas’ (village courts). It is part of efforts to bring judiciary to the common man’s doorstep and to decentralise dispensation of justice, he added.

The Minister was answering a question after delivering a lecture on ‘Reformation of Laws for the Economic Development of our country’ organised by Malabar Chamber of Commerce here on Friday.

He observed that post-liberalisation, successive governments at the Centre had brought in significant legal reforms aimed at accelerating the pace of economic development. The repeal of the draconian Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), replacing it with a progressive Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in 1999 was a significant achievement.

FERA regulations had enabled Enforcement Directorate to arrest any person, search any premises and seize documents. Violation was treated as criminal offence and the burden of proof was on the guilty. FEMA has reduced the rigors of exchange control by removing or diluting these provisions. Now, contravention is treated as a civil offence, he said.

He said that the government was concerned about the large pendency of civil and criminal cases in the country.

More judges were appointed based on the recommendations by High Courts and the Supreme Court.

On a question on setting up a Bench of the High Court in Kozhikode, the Minister asked the Chamber to submit request to State government and Kerala High Court.

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