E-management of rural courts to roll out today
Bihar's government will launch an online portal for gram kachaharies, enabling villagers to file and track petty cases digitally, streamlining local legal processes.
The state government is all set to introduce the e-management system in gram kachahari, a quasi judicial body or an institution for local legal redressal at the panchayat level in three-tier panchayati raj system in Bihar, by launching a portal where all records regarding filing and disposal of cases would be available online.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is scheduled to launch the portal for the e-management system of the gram kachaharies, officials said.
The new system, a first of its kind initiative in the country, would enable rural masses living in villages to file petty civil and criminal cases online and also track the disposal of the cases online. It would enable fast disposal of cases at the gram kachaharies and lessen the load of pending cases at the district courts and other superior courts, officials in the panchayati raj department said.
“The launch of the portal would kick off the e-management system in the gram kachaharis across the state . The portal would be connected with a central server and all records of dispute redressal would be uploaded in the portal. This will help anybody to track and view the status of their cases,” said Anand Sharma, director, panchayati raj department.
There are total 8,053 gram kachaharies in the state in all the gram panchayats, the bottom tier institution of the PRIs ( panchayati raj institutions).
Officials said the e-management system has been developed with the sole aim of ensuring that the dispute redressal system at the village level pertaining to petty disputes on civil matters and criminal matters like theft, physical assault, abuse, drainage disputes, recovery of rent, etc, are disposed of at the earliest by the elected sarpanch and panch members.
The Sarpanch is the head of the gram kachaharies, who have certain legal powers. The gram kachaharies can hear civil cases upto ₹10,000 and also 40 sections of IPC come under its jurisdictions but the institutions cannot pass simple or rigourous imprisonment as per the legal provisions, officials said.
Only a fine upto ₹1,000 can be imposed.
Bihar is the only state where the sytem of gram kachaharies (village courts) are functional at the panchayat raj system for disposal of petty cases or disputes at the village level.