The State Cabinet on Thursday approved the setting up of 100 Grama Nyayalayas in the limits of gram panchayats or clusters of gram panchayats for delivery of justice on the doorstep of people in rural areas.
The Grama Nyayalayas or rural courts will be set up as per the provisions of the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008, introduced by the UPA government at the Centre.
Briefing on the Cabinet decisions, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil said these courts would cover either a cluster of panchayats or a single panchayat. The government has estimated an annual cost of ₹25 crore for these courts. The courts would take up both civil and criminal cases. Once established, people in villages would no longer have to travel to towns and cities to get their cases heard, he said.
The courts would be set up in consultation with the High Court of Karnataka to ensure the availability of judges to hear cases, he said. The Centre would also give a one-time grant of ₹18 lakh per court and an additional ₹3.5 lakh for recurring expenditure.
Huge pendency of cases from lower courts to the Supreme Court was one of the reasons for the establishment of Grama Nyayalayas. Establishment of these courts would reduce the pendency to some extent, the Law Minister claimed.
The Cabinet has approved the declaration of an additional 21 taluks as drought-hit along with the 195 earlier declared drought-affected taluks. The Cabinet approval follows a recent Government Order on the matter. With this, the total taluks declared drought-hit reached 216 out of the total 236 taluks in Karnataka.
The State government has sought a total relief of ₹5,326.87 crore from the Centre to cover agricultural and horticultural crop loss on account of drought during the just-ended southwest monsoon season. The total estimated crop loss during the monsoon is ₹33,770 crore.
The Cabinet expressed anguish over the delay in giving an appointment to Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda to submit a memorandum on crop loss to the Union government.
