5 years on, UT yet to make 20 village courts functional, fails to get funds from Centre
Arteev Sharma
Jammu, April 4: As the extended deadline for operationalizing Gram Nyayalayas (village courts) enters its final financial year, a Parliamentary Panel has recommended that the Jammu and Kashmir government, along with other states and UTs, should prioritize the establishment of these notified entities.
The panel underlined the need to expedite the development of necessary infrastructure and ensure the deployment of required workforce to make these grassroots judicial bodies functional.
“It is observed that states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and UTs like Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh have notified entities but none are functional. The Committee feels that these states/UTs should prioritize operationalization of the notified entities through development of their infrastructural facilities and deployment of required workforce,” Rajya Sabha’s Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice has said in its 147th Report on Demands for Grants 2025-26.
The Government of India had decided to set up Gram Nyayalayas or village courts in 13 states and two newly-created Union Territories (UTs)—J&K and Ladakh—under the Gram Nyayalayas Act 2008. It was aimed at providing accessible, affordable, and speedy justice for minor civil and criminal cases to the rural citizens at their doorsteps and to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of social, economic or other disabilities.
Though the Act came into force with effect from October 2, 2009 across the country, it became applicable to Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and as per the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019. The state and UT governments were responsible for establishing Gram Nyayalayas in consultation with the respective High Courts.
Sources said that the then Government of Jammu and Kashmir made efforts to establish Dehi Adalats on the pattern of Gram Nyayalayas during the year 2013 but it failed to bring positive outcome even after identification of headquarters of Dehi Adalats due to lack of manpower.
The Government has extended the Gram Nyayalaya scheme from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a financial outlay of Rs 50 crore for operationalizing Gram Nyayalayas.
According to the panel, a total of 20 Gram Nyayalayas—one each in a district–were notified for Jammu and Kashmir but none of them had been made functional till date. Consequently, not even a single penny has been released by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice to the J&K UT.
“The Committee notes that out of 488 entities notified across various states, only 319 are functional. It also opines that that states with partially functional entities (Odisha, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana) should address their challenges such as funding allocation, administrative bottlenecks, and workforce shortages,” the Panel said in its report.
The report further stated, “The Committee feels that Gram Nyayalayas should operate every working day so that the backlog of cases can be handled more effectively instead of just two days a week. The current limited sitting schedule of just two days a week significantly reduces the capacity of these courts to deal with the volume of cases. The Committee opines that prioritizing the recruitment of Nyayadhikaris (Judicial Officers) and ensuring the timely filling of vacancies may help in providing uninterrupted functioning of Gram Nyayalayas”.
Under the scheme, the central provides one-time (non-recurring) assistance of Rs. 18 lakh per Gram Nyayalaya for Gram Nyayalayas. Additionally, recurring assistance covers 50 percent of the expenditure, subject to a ceiling of Rs. 3.20 lakh per annum per Gram Nyayalaya for the first three years.
Though the Act does not make setting up of Gram Nyayalayas mandatory, a high-level panel was constituted by the Chief Justice of Common High Court of J&K and Ladakh to look into the operationalization and functioning of the Gram Nyayalayas within the jurisdictional limit of the High Court with a view to make the institution a robust and credible pillar of justice delivery system.
