SC on Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008: States to ensure Compliance in Four Weeks. [Read the Order]

A notice has been issued last week by the Supreme Court of India in the direction of implementation of the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008

The Top Court has directed the States from whom, the Notifications for establishing the Gram Nyayalayas hasn't yet been received to issue the same within the next four weeks.

The Court Order came out when the bench comprising of Justice NV Ramana, Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Krishna Murari were considering a PIL filed by the National Federation Of Societies For Fast Justice. 

The Federation had assigned Advocate Prashant Bhushan as their representing Counsel. He in his submission placed before the Court, the details of the steps taken by various States for establishing and functioning of Gram Nyayalayas under the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008.

After hearing the submissions placed, the Court noted that though some States have issued Notifications for establishing the Gram Nyayalayas, all the established Gram Nyayalayas are not functioning.

It added that in some of the States, the proposals for establishing the Gram Nyayalayas are pending before the High Court for consultation and some of the States haven't yet initiated the process of issuing Notifications for establishing such Nyayalayas.

Therefore, in the context of the same, the bench issued the following directives:

The bench further noted that the States of Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Telangana, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and Odisha haven't yet filed their affidavits in compliance with the earlier directions issued by it. Therefore, the Court directed them to file their affidavits within the coming week, subject to deposit of ₹1 lakh.

Do some States have a conflict between the functioning of their Local Laws?

The State of Arunachal Pradesh may be granted an exemption for establishing and functioning of Gram Nyayalayas under the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 as after the examination by the Court. 

As far as the States of Bihar, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh are concerned, it was brought up to the Court that there might be some conflict between the functioning of their local laws and the functioning of Gram Nyayalayas under the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008.

In its closure, the bench also directed the Union of India to consider the proposal made in Valuation Study of the Scheme of Establishing & Operationalising Gram Nyayalaya of increasing the Recurring Head to ₹1500000/year for a min of 5 years with 50% State Government Contribution.

The order was passed by a Three-Judge bench of Justice NV Ramana, Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Krishna Murari on 29-01-2020.

Read Order Here: