Supreme Court directs States/UTs and their High Courts to file status report on Gram Nyayalayas

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Gram Nyayalayas aims to provide access, affordable and quick justice to the citizens at their door steps and de-clog local courts.

Key Features of Gram Nyayalayas

These have statuary backing under the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008.
- Act exempts States of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and tribal areas specified in the Act.
Seat of gram nyayalayas is located at the headquarters of the intermediate Panchayat
Status: Gram Nyayalayas are deemed to be a Court of Judicial Magistrate of First Class.
- State government appoints 'Nyayadhikari' for each Gram Nyayalaya in consultation with the high court.
Jurisdiction: Shall be a mobile court and both civil and criminal jurisdiction to settle petty disputes at the village level.
Dispute Process: Disputes are to be settled with the help of conciliation between the parties.
- These are not bound by the rules of evidence provided in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 but by Principles of Natural Justice.
  - Indian Evidence Act, 1872 has been recently replaced by the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam.
Appeals: Appeal in criminal cases lie to the Court of Session and in civil cases lie to the district court, shall be disposed within 6 months from the date of filing an appeal.

Poor implementation: As against a requirement of 6,000-odd gram nyayalayas, only 481 have been set up, but only 309 among them are functional.
The Act does not make setting up of Gram Nyayalayas mandatory: Section 3 of the Act provides that state governments "may" constitute Gram Nyayalayas.
States such as Jharkhand and Bihar resisted the gram nyayalayas in tribal or scheduled areas, saying local or traditional laws were predominantly followed there.

Under Gram Nyayalayas scheme (Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)), Union Government provides financial assistance to States to set up Gram Nyayalayas.

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