Establishing ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ would provide access to affordable justice: SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said establishing ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ would help in providing affordable and speedy justice to the citizens at their doorsteps and also reduce the huge pendency of cases in trial courts.

An Act passed by Parliament in 2008 provided for the setting up of ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ at the grassroots level for providing access to justice to citizens and to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to anyone by reason of social, economic or other disabilities.

The apex court directed the chief secretaries of states and registrar generals of the high courts to file affidavits within six weeks pointing out the details regarding establishment and functioning of ‘Gram Nyayalayas’, including about infrastructure made available for them.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan passed the order after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner NGO National Federation of Societies for Fast Justice and others, said that 16 years after passing of the Act, only 264 Gram Nyayalayas were functional.

The plea was filed in the apex court in 2019 seeking a direction to the Centre and all states for taking steps to set up ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ under the supervision of the top court.

It has said that sections 5 and 6 of the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008, provide that state government in consultation with the high court will appoint a ‘Nyayadhikari’ for each ‘Gram Nyayalaya’, who will be a person eligible to be appointed as a judicial magistrate of the first class. During the hearing, Bhushan said the Act came into being in 2008 and a minimum of 6,000 Gram Nyayalayas should have been established by now.