Nyaya Panchayat - Brief History

Brief History

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 ariisng 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 consisiting 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.