New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from all High Courts on a 2019 plea asking the Center and all states to take steps to set up ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ under the supervision of the apex court. Instructions have been sought.
A bench of Justices SA Nazeer and Justice V Ramasubramaniam issued notices to the Registrar Generals of all High Courts and made them parties to the case. The top court said that the high courts should be made parties as they are the supervisory authority.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner NGO ‘National Federation of Societies for Fast Justice’ and others, submitted before the bench that despite the apex court’s direction in 2020, many states have yet to take any action. Haven’t. Bhushan said that these ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ should be such that people can place their grievances without any lawyer. The next hearing in the matter will be held on December 5.
The top court had in 2020 directed that states, which have not yet issued a notification for setting up ‘gram courts’, do so within four weeks. The court had asked the high courts to expedite the process of consultation with the state governments on the issue.
An Act passed by the Parliament in 2008 provided for the establishment of ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ at the grassroots level to provide justice to the citizens around the house, so as to ensure that justice is achieved due to social, economic reasons or other disabilities. Don’t miss out on opportunities to do so. (Language)
