To provide access to justice to the citizen at their door steps, the Central Government has enacted the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008.  It provides for establishment of Gram Nyayalayas at intermediate panchayat level.  The State Governments are responsible for establishing Gram Nyayalayas in consultation with the respective High Courts.  As per information made available by State Governments / High Courts, 476 Gram Nyayalayas have been notified so far by 15 States/UT.  Out of these, 257 are operational in 10 States at present. The State-wise detail including Haryana is as below:

 

Sl. No.	State	Gram Nyayalayas Notified	Gram Nyayalayas Functional
1	Madhya  Pradesh	89	89
2	Rajasthan	45	45
3	Karnataka	2	2
4	Odisha	23	19
5	Maharashtra	36	23
6	Jharkhand	6	1
7	Goa	2	0
8	Punjab	9	2
9	Haryana	2	2
10	Uttar Pradesh	113	44
11	Kerala	30	30
12	Andhra Pradesh	42	0
13	Telangana	55	0
14	Jammu & Kashmir	20	0
15	Ladakh	2	0
Total		476	257

 

Gram Nyayalayas are deemed to be a Court of Judicial Magistrate of First Class with both civil and criminal jurisdiction to settle petty disputes at the village level.

The State-wise number of pending cases in the Subordinate Judiciary for more than 5 years, as available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) Portal is annexed.

In terms of Section 3 (1) of the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008, the State Governments are responsible for establishing Gram Nyayalayas in consultation with the respective High Courts. However, the Act does not make setting up of Gram Nyayalayas mandatory. The issues affecting operationalization of the Gram Nyayalayas were discussed in the Conference of Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Ministers of the States on 7th April, 2013.  It was decided in the Conference that the State Governments and High Courts should decide the question of setting up of Gram Nyayalayas wherever feasible, taking into account the local issues and situation. For opening of Gram Nyayalayas, the Central Government has been encouraging the States by way of providing financial assistance.

This information was given by Shri Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of Law and Justice, in Lok Sabha today.

 

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Annexure

State-wise number of pending cases in the Subordinate Judiciary for more than 5 years, as available on the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) Portal

(As on 22.03.2022)

Sl. No	Name of States/UTs	More than five year Pending Cases (Civil)	More than five year Pending Cases (Criminal)	Total
	Andhra Pradesh	62812	28634	91446
	Telangana	54729	51935	106664
	Assam	12999	48075	61074
	Bihar	196498	1223051	1419549
	Chandigarh	1568	1616	3184
	Chhattisgarh	7335	27131	34466
	D & N Haveli	582	256	838
	Daman & Diu	254	200	454
	Delhi	38182	112349	150531
	Goa	7881	3812	11693
	Gujarat	123622	255061	378683
	Haryana	28539	33641	62180
	Himachal Pradesh	26959	29526	56485
	Jammu & Kashmir	19771	34212	53983
	Jharkhand	23077	112335	135412
	Karnataka	169793	145534	315327
	Kerala	53323	221264	274587
	Ladakh	51	26	77
	Madhya Pradesh	59156	233964	293120
	Maharashtra	430376	825950	1256326
	Manipur	1424	768	2192
	Meghalaya	1483	4106	5589
	Mizoram	297	365	662
	Nagaland	58	566	624
	Odisha	117273	481033	598306
	Punjab	21252	20319	41571
	Rajasthan	135767	372466	508233
	Sikkim	4	4	8
	Tamil Nadu	139087	133855	272942
	Puducherry	2470	6183	8653
	Tripura	802	3513	4315
	Uttar Pradesh	745534	2892783	3638317
	Uttarakhand	5816	33061	38877
	West Bengal	226046	930855	1156901
Total		2714820	8268449	10983269

Data Source:- National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG)

Note: Data on District and Subordinate Courts in the State of Arunachal Pradesh and Union Territories of Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands are not available on the web-portal of NJDG.

 

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BY/IG

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