Source:- telegraphindia.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Supreme Court on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on seven states, including Bengal, for failing to file their response on setting up \u201cGram Nyayalayas\u201d to take the administration of justice to the doorsteps of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other states to be fined are Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Odisha, Punjab and Telangana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\n bench of Justices N.V. Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari was \ndealing with a PIL filed by the NGO National Federation of Societies for\n Last Justice seeking a direction to the Centre, the states and the \nUnion Territories to set up Gram Nyayalayas under the supervision of the\n apex court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The NGO, represented by advocate Prashant Bhushan, \ntold the court that despite Parliament in 2008 passing the Gram \nNyayalayas Act, most states and Union Territories had not complied with \nthe mandate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the hearing on Wednesday, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh \ninformed the court that they had so far set up 45 and 119 Gram \nNyayalayas, respectively. Justice Ramana asked the two states to mention\n this through affidavits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kerala sought permission to file its \naffidavit during the day, which was allowed by the court that adjourned \nthe matter by four weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Against a requirement of 2,500 Gram \nNyayalayas estimated by the 12th Five Year Plan for the period 2009-10 \nto 2017-18, only 320 have been notified by 11 state governments and of \nthem 204 are operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAbout 18 states have failed to \nconstitute any Gram Nyayalayas over the past ten years, frustrating the \nobject of the Act to provide \u2018access to justice\u2019 to all. The state \ngovernments concerned have been defeating the object of the Act, as \nSection 3 of the Act provides that state governments \u2018may\u2019 constitute \nGram Nyayalayas,\u201d the petition said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To reduce the workload of the\n district courts, Section 16 provides that the high court concerned may \ntransfer eligible cases from the district courts to the Gram Nyayalayas.<\/p>\n