BENGALURU: In a significant move to deliver justice to the doorstep of rural people, the Karnataka cabinet on Thursday gave in-principle approval to establish 100 ‘Gram Nyayalayas’ across the state. These village courts will deal with both civil and criminal cases like those of JMFC courts.
They will be set up either at gram panchayat headquarters that has a huge population or at places with clusters of villages. The high court will recruit the judges.
Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said Karnataka is following the central law brought during 2008-09 during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure. The Centre will provide Rs 18 lakh as a one-time grant to set up each court and Rs 3.5 lakh as recurring expenditure. “It requires an estimated cost of Rs 25 crore and the time frame to set up the courts will be decided after holding a discussion with the Chief Justice of the High Court,” he said.
The cabinet also took a decision to formulate a state policy for the development of City Gas Distribution (CGD) network for the use of CNG for vehicles and PNG for domestic use to keep a tab on the agencies that have already started work on the network. It will also bring accountability for any mishaps, he said adding that the policy will have some changes from the existing central policy.
Drought relief
The cabinet expressed concern over the Centre not cooperating with the state over the release of drought relief funds for crop loss. “The total loss is estimated at Rs 33,770 crore. We have a proposal to claim Rs 5,326.87 crore as per the norms. But despite repeated requests, the central ministers concerned are not meeting us. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed Revenue Minister Krishna Byregowda to pursue the matter again,” Patil said. With regard to the Anna Bhagya scheme, it has been decided to continue with the current system of distribution of money.
OTHER DECISIONS