By IANS
Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Law Minister Antar Singh Arya has appealed to the central government to refrain from opening fresh village courts in the state and instead sought financial assistance for improving the condition of the 1,600 village courts that exist now.
Arya was attending a meeting of state law ministers and law secretaries in New Delhi Friday. Union Law Minister Hansraj Bharadwaj had convened the meeting to discuss the proposed Village Court Bill.
The minister urged the central government not to implement the proposed bill in Madhya Pradesh and to allow the existing village courts of the state to continue in the present format.
He informed the meeting that the Village Court Act was implemented in the state in 1996 and 1,600 village courts are functioning smoothly. He said that there was no need to appoint a parallel civil judge and judicial magistrate in the name of village courts.
“Arya also urged the central government to give a package to the tune of Rs.5 billion for reconstruction of dilapidated buildings of district and civil courts in the state,” an official statement said.
“An adequate number of courts are present in the state in proportion to litigations and cases.
“Presently 6,97,623 criminal cases and 1,02,995 civil cases are pending with courts in Madhya Pradesh and the criminal cases proposed to be handed over to village courts are quite less in number,” Arya said.