Dhaka Bureau: The Gram Adalat (Amendment) Bill-2024 has been passed in the National Parliament with provision to increase the limit of the fine of the village court from Tk 75 thousand to Tk 3 lakh.
On Tuesday, May 7, the Minister of Local Government, Rural Development, and Cooperatives. Tajul Islam moved the motion to pass the bill, and it was passed by voice vote.
Before this, the proposal to send the public opinion on the bill to the scrutiny committee was settled. Speaker Shireen Sharmin Chowdhury presided over the session.
According to the passed bill, a village court will be formed with a chairman and two members nominated by both parties. One of the two members nominated by each party shall be a member of the Union Parishad concerned.
If the interest of a woman is involved in a criminal or civil case, the party concerned shall nominate a woman as a member in the nomination of members. In the presence of four members, if the decision of the village court is not resolved by two votes each, the chairman will take the deciding vote.
The Schedule to the Bill mentions seven types of civil suits.
They are: recovery of money due in consideration of a contract receipt or any other document; recovery of immovable property or recovery of its value; recovery of possession of immovable property within one year of dispossession; recovery of compensation for seizure or loss of any immovable property; compensation due to encroachment of cattle.; recovery of unpaid wages and compensation of agricultural laborers; and recovery of arrears of maintenance by any wife against the husband.
The bill mentions that these matters will be settled through the village court.
