Hyderabad: Forum For Good Governance, an NGO run by former civil servants, has requested Telagana chief minister Revanth Reddy to speed up the process of setting up village-level courts.
The organisation’s head and retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Padmanabha Reddy reminded the Telangana chief minister that the costs of setting up ‘Grama Nyayalayas‘ or village courts would be borne by the Union government, as per a central directive which came years ago.
The Telangana government had sanctioned the establishment of 55 village courts, by appointing 55 village judges and 225 support staff. Still, the matter has been pending due to an intervention from the Telangana High Court. No positive actions have been taken recently, said the letter sent by the former IFS to the chief minister.
The Forum for Good Governance also stressed that Telangana is among the few states in the country that are yet to take the final and complete steps to establish village courts for speedy and easy access to the justice system in rural areas.
The Supreme Court had recently made a push to the establishment of village courts in the country, aimed at helping citizens have better access to justice. The village courts would work with the existing lineup of courts, by making courts more approachable to the common people living in villages in the country, said the Forum for Good Governance.
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