Establishment Of Gram Nyayalayas | Supreme Court Warns States/High Courts Which Haven't Filed Compliance Affidavits

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 issued a warning to states/UTs and High Courts which did not file affidavits (on the establishment and functioning of Gram Nyayalayas) pursuant to its last order.

"If the affidavits are not filed by the next date, we would be constrained to take a serious view of the matter", the Court said. 

The bench of Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and KV Viswanathan also appointed Senior Advocate Nidhesh Gupta and Advocate Suhasini to assist the Court in the matter.

At the outset of the hearing, Advocate Prashant Bhushan informed that pursuant to the Court's last order, 41 affidavits had been filed. He further submitted that out of the total Gram Nyayalayas required at the intermediate Panchayat level, only 5-6% percent have been effectuated. Some states are saying that they do not need Gram Nyayalayas because they have Nyaya Panchayats, even though the two are markedly different (note: Gram Nyayalayas have judicial officers). In some other states, the High Courts are saying that they have framed the rules and asked state governments to effectuate Gram Nyayalayas but state governments are not doing anything.

Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for High Court of Himachal Pradesh, submitted that inspite of repeated reminders to the state government for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas, the state was not taking any steps.

Hearing the counsels, the Court directed state of Himachal Pradesh to file a response. Insofar as states and High Courts which had not filed their affidavits pursuant to the last order, it was directed that the Chief Secretaries of the state governments and Registrar Generals of the High Courts shall file the responses within 3 weeks.

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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