Bhubaneswar: As many as 45,874 cases — including 1,124 civil cases and 44,750 criminal cases — are pending in the 20 functional village courts across Odisha, according to the data available in the ‘Gram Nyayalaya’ portal of the Department of Justice.
Odisha recorded the most number of pending cases at the village courts in the country after Uttar Pradesh, a source said.
It can be mentioned here that Odisha was among the states that were the first to introduce ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ or village courts, after the Act paving the way for them came into effect October 2, 2009.
Odisha has 20 operational ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ out of the 24 that have so far been notified by the state government, said a source added.
Notably, the Law Commission, in its 114th report in 1986, had proposed that ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ be set up across the country to ensure access to justice for the weaker sections of the society and reduce delays in the delivery of justice.
The Gram Nyayalayas Bill was passed by Parliament December 22, 2008, and the Act came into effect October 2, 2009.
Though the Act does not make it mandatory for states to set up ‘Gram Nyayalayas’, yet Odisha was among a few states to roll out the concept in 2009, hoping to deliver justic to citizens literally at their doorsteps.
“Majority of States have now set up regular courts at Taluka level. Though no state has opposed setting up of Gram Nyayalayas, however reluctance of police officials and other State functionaries to invoke jurisdiction of Gram Nyayalayas, lukewarm response of Bar, non-availability of notaries and stamp vendors, problem of concurrent jurisdiction of regular courts are other issues indicated by the States, which are coming in the way of operationalization of the Scheme,” said Kiren Rijiju, the ex-law minister, in Rajya Sabha in February last year.
As per the information available with the Department of Justice under the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, Odisha received Rs524.4 lakh from the central government for the establishment of the village courts.
However, the village courts are yet to fully achieve the objectives they were set up for. The ‘Gram Nyayalayas’, which were expected to reduce the pendency of cases in subordinate courts, are found burdened with a huge backlog of pending cases instead, the source informed.
PNN & Agencies