Supreme Court Seeks Affidavits From States/HCs On Establishment & Functioning Of Gram Nyayalayas

In a public interest litigation seeking establishment and effectuation of Gram Nyayalayas in the country as per the mandate of Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008, the Supreme Court today directed states/UTs and their High Courts to file fresh affidavits on the establishment and functioning of Gram Nyayalayas.

"We therefore direct the Chief Secretaries of all the states and the Registrar Generals of all High Courts to file affidavits within a period of 6 weeks from today, pointing out details regarding establishment and functioning of the Gram Nyayalayas in their respective states. The affidavits shall also record the infrastructure which is available to such Gram Nyayalayas. We further direct that before filing the affidavits, the Chief Secretaries of the states and the Registrar Generals of the High Courts shall have a meeting and coordinate with regard to the policy for establishing Gram Nyayalayas in the respective states, including the infrastructure to be provided therefore. The affidavits shall also clarify as to whether such of the states propose to establish Gram Nyayalayas than the ones which are already established and the steps proposed to be taken in that regard", said the bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan.

During the hearing of the case, Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioners, urged that although more than 6000 Gram Nyayalayas should have been established in the country over past 16 years (since passing of the Act), only 400 have been established so far, and out of them only 264 are functional.

He averred that there is a huge pendency and backlog of cases, with people struggling to get their cases listed, which was contemplated to be prevented through establishment of the Gram Nyayalayas.

"The whole object of this Act was to set up Gram Nyalayas at intermediate Panchayat level, that should be able to deal with several cases of ordinary peole...it lays down everything...that the judges in this court will be appointed in consultation with the High Court, they should have the same qualification as a judicial magistrate...will be the jurisdiction of the courts...appeals will lie to the District courts...etc".

Calling the situation "pathetic", Bhushan drew the court's attention to the fact that it passed an order in 2020, directing inter-alia that the states which had not issued notifications for establishing Gram Nyayalayas do the same within 4 weeks.

"It appears that governments are totally oblivious to the administration of justice...they are not interested in seeing that justice gets administered", he said.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, on the other hand, took a stand on behalf of the Union that the Act did not mandatorily require states to establish Gram Nyayalayas. While contending that Union had no role in the establishing of Gram Nyayalayas besides assisting states, the ASG also informed that there exists a Central funding scheme, which the states can avail of if they or their High Courts feel that there is a need for Gram Nyayalayas.

Alongside the ASG, counsel for Bihar informed that the state had established Gram Kachehris, which were functioning well and had jurisdiction almost identical to Gram Nyayalayas. This submission was countered by Bhushan, saying that the Kachehri presiding officers are not judicial officers.

Bhushan also cited a report which stated that Gram Nyayalayas are having positive results in establishing law in Panchayat areas. "They have helped to bring justice to the doorsteps of the litigant public...they have helped common villagers", he asserted.

On hearing the counsels, Justice Viswanathan remarked that the issue was not adversarial: "it pertains to establishment of Gram Nyayalaya pursuant to a statute...if these are really functional, what are the benefits? They will de-clog the courts, decentralize administration and further rule of law".

In the same spirit, the order dictated in court by Justice Gavai recorded: "The idea behind establishment of Gram Nyayalayas appears to be providing easy access to justice to last citizens of the country. The right to justice also includes right to affordable and speedy justice. In our view, establishment of more Gram Nyayalayas would apart from providing access to justice at affordable price and providing justice at [...] would also de-clog the huge pendency of matters pending before trial courts. We would appreciate that the state governments and the High Courts when considering the issue would keep the aforesaid aspect in mind."

Case Title: NATIONAL FEDERATION OF SOCIETIES FOR FAST JUSTICE AND ANR. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 1067/2019

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