15 years after coming into being, village courts fight vacancies, financial woes to deliver justice

New Delhi: Conceived as a tool to deliver affordable and quick access to justice, 'gram nyayalayas' or village courts are today finding it difficult to live up to their purpose due to manpower shortage and financial crunch.

So far 481 gram nyayalayas have been notified by 15 states, of which 309 have been made operational in 10 states, the law ministry told Parliament in the just-concluded Monsoon session.

In 1986, the law commission had suggested setting up village courts to provide affordable and quick access to justice to citizens at their doorsteps. After years, The Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 came into effect from Gandhi Jayanti the next year.

The Act provides for the establishment of gram nyayalayas at the grassroots level to provide access to justice to the citizens at their doorsteps and to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to anyone due to social, economic or other disabilities.

Citing "certain studies", the law ministry said in the parliament that the main reasons for slow progress in setting up of these village courts include non-filling of the post of 'nyayadhikaris' in many states, non-availability of public prosecutors, notaries and general shortage of first-class judicial magistrates.

Limited pecuniary jurisdiction of gram nyayalayas, insufficient staff, inadequate financial backing from states, reluctance from legal and state authorities and lack of community awareness were the other reasons cited for the present state of affairs of village courts, the government said.

Besides, the issue of overlapping jurisdiction with regular courts is another reason for "slow take off" of such courts in some states, it added.

Many states have their own parallel systems of village courts functioning at panchayat level.

As per guidelines, the Centre provides Rs 18 lakh per gram nyayalaya to meet non-recurring expenditure as a one-time measure and bears 50 per cent of the recurring expenses of these courts, subject to a ceiling of Rs 3.20 lakh per courts per annum during the first three years.