As the Family Courts Amendment Bill passed Lok Sabha, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju asked all states to ensure the setting up of family courts in every district.
Emphasising that matters that are heard before family courts are “sensitive” and need “care”, Union Minister for Law and Justice, Kiren Rijiju, on Tuesday informed the Parliament that he had “written to all states to ensure” that family courts are set up in each district with over 10 lakh population.
The statement was made as the Lok Sabha debated the Family Courts Amendment Bill, which had been passed by the Lower house.
Defending the bill, Rijiju also gave data on the current number of family courts and pending cases.
According to the reply given to the Lok Sabha, at present there are 715 family courts in the country with 11,49,907 cases pending as of April 31. The country has 773 districts in total.
“I am telling you the record till May, 69,464 new cases have been registered,” said Rijiju.
The Minister for Law and Justice also said that he will be “taking a review” of the situation later this week during a Conference of all District Judges that is scheduled for 30 July. The chief justice of India, the prime minister, and district judges of all districts in the country will be participating in the conference. “We recently had a conference of chief justices of all high courts and the senior judges of the Supreme Court will be considered important issues. This conference will also deliberate on these issues and the issue of family courts,” said Rijiju.
The disposal of family court cases requires slow, careful and sensitive resolution. The government is looking into how to do this,” said Rijiju.
Under the Family Courts Act, the responsibility of setting up the special family courts is on the state government.
In response to a specific question by MP Kaushalendra Kumar regarding the lack of family courts in Bihar, the Law minister assured the house that he would take up the matter with the state government as well as the chief justice of the high court.
The minister also defended the amendment required in the Family Courts Act which had initially been passed in 1984.
The Act, said Rijiju, had granted power to the states to set up special family courts. “Only 5 states were left which don’t have family courts. Now with this act, hopefully there will be no further issues,” said the minister.
The Lok sabha debate had questioned why the government had decided to create a retrospective amendment to include the states which created family courts at a later stage. The Law minister pointed out that “thousands of cases” would be affected if the Amendment did not provide legal legitimacy to the state courts.
He also emphasized the use of technology and mediation to speed up the resolution of family court cases. “Most family and commercial cases can be resolved through mediation. We are also bringing in a Mediation Bill. District legal aid counselling will be free through the National Legal Services Authority,” said Rijiju.
