Nyaya Panchayat

A Nyaya Panchayat is a system of dispute resolution at village level in India. Nyaya panchayats can be endowed with functions based on broad principles of natural justice and can tend to remain procedurally as simple as possible. They can be given civil and minor criminal jurisdiction. But they should never follow civil and criminal procedure code in toto.

The earliest nyaya panchayats were the village courts established under the Village Courts Act of 1888. The Royal Commission on Decentralisation of 1909, recommended of revival of nyaya panchayats having both civil and criminal jurisdiction in petty cases arising within the village. In May 1915, by a resolution passed by the Government of India, the matters regarding the establishmentof nyaya panchayat was left to the State Government. In 1920, Bombay Village Panchayat Act was passed and that resulted in the conduct of a series of panchayat adalats. But select committee of the legislative council opposed the investing of judicial powers on panchayats. In 1933, a village bench consisting of elected members and outsiders were created as per provisions of the Bombay Village Panchayat Act in Bombay. Since independence, almost all States enforced Village Panchayat Acts as guided by the directive principles and have resulted in the creation of statutory nyaya panchayat legislation. The village Panchayat and nyaya panchayat existed as dual entities in order to have separation of judiciary from the executive.

Legislation to formalise these bodies and bring them within the ambit of organised justice in India was planned as part of the Panchayati Raj reforms of Rajiv Gandhi in the 1980s, but was put on hold to coincide with broader reform of the justice system, which was never carried out. Following the victory of the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance in the 2004 General Elections, the National Advisory Council advised the Government of India to introduce legislation. To draft legislation in this regard a drafting committee, under the chairmanship of Professor Upendra Baxi, has been formed by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India. The bill on the issue is proposed to be debated in the winter session of the Indian Parliament. [1]

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