Performance of Gram Nyayalayas

Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Law & Justice, has said that it is for the State Governments to notify the Gram Nyayalayas in consultation with the respective High Courts as the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 has come into force w.e.f. 2.10.2009. As per the information available, six State Governments viz Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka have notified 159 Gram Nyayalayas. Out of these, 151 are operational. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha recently, Shri Khurshid, said that some other States are seized of the matter but have not taken a final view in their regard. The State Governments of Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Delhi have not felt the need to establish Gram Nyayalayas.

The Minister informed the House that it is too early to give an assessment on the success or otherwise of the Gram Nyayalayas in terms of visible level of satisfaction. The problems faced by the States in making of Gram Nyayalayas a success were, however, discussed inter-alia in a meeting held at Delhi on 19th & 20th April, 2012 with the Law/ Home Secretaries and Finance Secretaries of the States and Registrar Generals of the High Courts. It emerged during discussions that besides the financial constraints, lukewarm response of bar, reluctance of police officials and other state functionaries to invoke jurisdiction of Gram Nyayalayas, non-availability of notaries and stamp vendors, problem of concurrent jurisdiction of regular courts are some of the factors which are coming in the way of establishment of Gram Nyayalayas as well as their working wherever they have been established.