A conference of state law ministers, secretaries and registrar generals of High Courts is being held on February 1 at Vigyan Bhawan to deliberate on implementation aspects of Gram Nyayalayas.To be presided over by Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, the meet will discuss establishment of Gram Nyayalayas and related matters like time-frame and financial arrangements to be made for such courts. The Gram Nyayalaya Bill, recently introduced in Parliament, aims at establishing rural courts at village level to clear the backlog of cases and provide a forum for settlement of disputes with simplified procedure to make justice accessible to the common man.“The Centre has already accepted most of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gram Nyayalaya and will now pursue the Bill in Parliamnet for its early enactment,” the Law Ministry said in a release on Thursday. The House panel had recommended setting up of mobile courts to ensure justice at the doorstep, plea-bargaining to clear backlog of cases in rural areas and inclusion of revenue matters in the jurisdiction of these courts as revenue disputes in rural areas comprise a bulk of cases.“The Gram Nyayalayas will be established in addition to other courts and will act as the subordinate court at intermediate panchayat level. These courts will be empowered to deal with both criminal and civil cases. The Central Government will bear all non-recurring expenditure for setting up these courts and will bear half of the recurring expenditure for three years after their establishment,” the ministry said.
