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Gram Nyayalayas Act to take effect on October 2

NEW DELHI: More than 5,000 village courts, aimed at providing inexpensive justice, set up under the provisions of the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008, will start functioning from Gandhi Jayanthi. This was announced by the Central government.

The Act has been enacted to establish Gram Nyayalayas (GNs) at the grassroots level for providing access to justice to the citizens at their doorstep.

The GNs will provide inexpensive justice to people in rural areas. It will be a court of the Judicial Magistrate of the first class, and its presiding officer (Nyayadhikari) will be appointed by the State government in consultation with the High Court.

The GN will be established for every Panchayat at the intermediate level or a group of contiguous Panchayats at the intermediate level in a district or where there is no Panchayat at the intermediate level in any State, for a group of contiguous Panchayats. The Nyayadhikaris, who will preside over these GNs, are strictly judicial officers and will drawthe same salary and derive the same powers as the First Class Magistrates working under High Courts.

The GN will be a mobile court and exercise the powers of both the criminal and civil courts. The seat of the GN will be located at the headquarters of the intermediate panchayat, they will go to villages, work there and dispose of the cases. It will try criminal cases, civil suits, claims or disputes which are specified in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule to the Act.

They will follow summary procedure in criminal trial and exercise the powers of a civil court with certain modifications and follow the special procedure as provided in the Act.

The GN will try to settle the disputes, as far as possible, by bringing about conciliation between the parties and for this purpose, it will make use of appointed conciliators.

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