Khaps seek lok adalat status

Chandigarh: Leaders of Haryana's khap panchayats met governor Kaptan Singh Solanki on Monday to demand lok adalat status to these social councils. The khap leaders said they play an important role in resolving minor cases at village level.
"The khap panchayats don't want to work as parallel judicial bodies but as a supportive organ of the courts," said Tek Ram Kandela, national convener of Sarv Jatiya Khap Panchayat, who led the delegation to meet the governor."The government or local administration may send a representative to the proposed khap lok adalats, if the authorities agree to the proposal," he added. Kandela, 60, claimed the governor has assured to consider their demands.
The khap leaders claim they can resolve local disputes easily as they are familiar with the ground realities. "Every year our khap resolves more than 2,000 cases, mainly related to land disputes and minor disputes like assault. However, we don't award penalty to anyone, as we don't have any power to do so," added Kandela. Kandela khap has 28 villages under its jurisdiction in Jind district.
Sources however claimed that khap panchayats do impose penalties and even tell the accused to compensate the victims.
A section of social activists have accused khaps of being anti-poor and anti-women. It is, perhaps, in keeping with this criticism that these bodies have started including women leaders as office-bearers of their councils. "We have representation from all communities and deliver the judgement only after hearing all the parties concerned," claimed Kandela. Giving a rough estimate, he added, "Even small khaps resolve as many as 1,000 cases annually."
Another khap leader Neeraj Chhatar said the petitioners as well the accused would be able to save money and time, if khaps' lok adalats are formed under the legal framework. According to khap leaders, long pendancy of criminal cases in courts just increases enmity between the parties concerned.
As many as 175 khaps are said to be active in Haryana. There are many such bodies which also function in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi. The khap leaders suggested that the government could also consider state level and national level bodies of khap-led lok adalats. "If the government gives legal sanctity to such (khap) lok adalats, then it will certainly reduce the burden of courts considerably," Chhatar added.