Gram Nyayalayas

Equality and justice are indisputably two key facets of the idea of a modern, democratic, and constitution-adhering India. The principles of equality and justice are realized by the State apparatus through the business of administration of justice. India’s judicial system is characterized by systemic problems, including corruption, delays, pendency, increasing costs, limited legal aid, and a lack of appropriately trained lawyers and judges.
To overcome these problems the Law Ministry had set up Gram Nyayalays in 2009 with an aim to provide a cost-effective forum at the grass-root level for the poor living in villages to settle legal matters. It was established by the Gram Nyayalayas Act 2008.
This Act perpetuates the phenomenon of two Indias – that of the better-resourced urban citizen who can afford and has access to the courts, and the other India of the impoverished – the more disconnected rural citizen, who gets primary access to forums that focus primarily on disposing of their claims, minus the application of essential safeguards of the legal process – lawyers, appeals, procedural protections, and evidentiary requirements.
The Gram Nyayalaya was proposed by the 114th Law Commission in 1986. The report recommended the concept of the Gram Nyayalaya with two objectives. While addressing the pendency in the subordinate courts was the major objective, the other objective was the introduction of a participatory forum of justice. To make it participatory the Law Commission recommended that the Magistrate be accompanied by two lay persons who shall act as Judges, that the legal training of the Magistrate will be complemented by the knowledge of the lay persons who would bring in the much required socio-economic dimension to adjudication. It was proposed that such a model of adjudication will be best suited for rural litigation. The Law Commission also observed that such a court would be ideally suited for the villages as the nature of disputes coming before such a court would be ‘simple, uncomplicated and easy of solution’ and that such disputes should not be enmeshed in procedural claptrap. 
Salient features of Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008 which came into effect from Oct 2, 2009 are:
• Gram Nyayalayas are aimed at providing inexpensive justice to people in rural areas at their doorsteps;• The Gram Nyayalaya shall be court of Judicial Magistrate of the first class and its Presiding Officer (Nyayadhikari) shall be appointed by the State Government in consultation with the High Court;• The Gram Nyayalaya shall be established for every Panchayat at intermediate level or a group of contiguous Panchayats at intermediate level in a district or where there is no Panchayat at intermediate level in any State;• The Nyayadhikaris who will preside over these Gram Nyayalayas are strictly judicial officers and will be drawing the same salary, deriving  the same powers as First Class Magistrates working under High Courts;• The Gram Nyayalaya shall be a mobile court and shall exercise the powers of both Criminal and Civil Courts;• The seat of the Gram Nyayalaya will be located at the headquarters of the intermediate Panchayat, they will go to villages, work there and dispose of the cases;• The Gram Nyayalaya shall try criminal cases, civil suits, claims or disputes which are specified in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule to the Act;• The Gram Nyayalaya shall follow summary procedure in criminal trial;• The Gram Nyayalaya shall try to settle the disputes as far as possible by bringing about conciliation between the parties and for this purpose, it shall make use of the conciliators to be appointed for this purpose;• The judgment and order passed by the Gram Nyayalaya shall be deemed to be a decree; • The Gram Nyayalaya shall not be bound by the rules of evidence provided in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 but shall be guided by the principles of natural justice and subject to any rule made by the High Court;• An appeal in criminal cases shall lie to the Court of Session, which shall be heard and disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing of such appeal;• An appeal in civil cases shall lie to the District Court, which shall be heard and disposed of within a period of six months from the date of filing of the appeal;• A person accused of an offence may file an application for plea bargaining.