No time-frame to table Nyaya Panchayat Bill: government

NEW DELHI: Government today said no time-frame can be fixed for introduction of the proposed Nyaya Panchayat Bill in Parliament as certain objections have been raised on its Constitutional validity.

Minister of Panchayati Raj Chaudhary Birender Singh said in Lok Sabha that the draft Nyaya Panchayat Bill was forwarded to the Ministry of Law and Justice for its inputs.

"However, the Ministry of Law and Justice has raised a number of points including the basic question of Constitutional validity of bringing in the proposed legislation etc. There were issues of funding the proposal by the central government," he said while replying to questions.

Chaudhary said the issue was also discussed with the Secretaries of Panchayati Raj Departments of states in the meeting held on October 29-30, 2015 who expressed their reservations over funding such a huge number of institutions utilising their own funds.

"Therefore, at this point of time, a time-frame cannot be fixed for introduction of the Bill in the Parliament. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj will continue discussions with all the stakeholders in this matter," he said.

Chaudhary said the Ministry of Panchayati Raj had prepared a draft Nyaya Panchayat Bill during 2010 to provide for establishment of Nyaya Panchayats at the level of every Gram Panchayat or a cluster of Gram Panchayats for providing a system of fair and speedy justice, both civil and criminal, to the citizens at their doorsteps.