Chapter I PRELIMINARY

1. (1) This Act may be called the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008.
2. (2) It extends to the whole of India except 1***, the State of Nagaland, the State of Arunachal Pradesh, the State of Sikkim and to the tribal areas. Explanation.-- In this sub-section, the expression tribal areas means the areas specified in Parts I, II, IIA and III of the Table below paragraph 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution within the State of Assam, the State of Meghalaya, the State of Tripura and the State of Mizoram, respectively.
3. (3) It shall come into force on such date2 as the Central Government may, by notification published in the Official Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different States.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,--

1. (a) "Gram Nyayalaya" means a court established under sub-section (1) of section 3;
2. (b) "Gram Panchayat" means an institution (by whatever name called) of self-government constituted, at the village level, under article 243B of the Constitution, for the rural areas;
3. (c) "High Court" means,--
   • (i) in relation to any State, the High Court for that State;
   • (ii) in relation to a Union territory to which the jurisdiction of the High Court for a State has been extended by law, that High Court;
   • (iii) in relation to any other Union territory, the highest Court of criminal appeal for that territory other than the Supreme Court of India;
4. (d) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette and the expression "notified" shall be construed accordingly;
5. (e) "Nyayadhikari" means the presiding officer of a Gram Nyayalaya appointed under section 5;
6. (f) "Panchayat at intermediate level" means an institution (by whatever name called) of selfgovernment constituted, at the intermediate level, under article 243B of the Constitution, for the rural areas in accordance with the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution;
7. (g) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
8. (h) "Schedule" means the Schedule appended to this Act;
   • (i) "State Government", in relation to a Union territory, means the administrator thereof appointed under article 239 of the Constitution;
9. (j) words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) or the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974) shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in those Codes.