Will request state govts to have family courts in every dist: Rijiju

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill to grant statutory cover to family courts set up in Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland and retrospectively validate all actions taken by them, with Law Minister Kiren Rijiju saying that he would request all state governments to set up one family court in every district.

Responding to a debate on the Family Court (Amendment) Bill, 2022, he said that there are at present 715 family courts in the country with 11,49,907 cases pending at the beginning of May.

“I am telling you the record till May, 69,464 new cases have been registered. I am giving you the statistics of the month of May. 75,386 cases have been disposed,” he said.

According to the Family Court Act of 1984, it is mandatory for the state government to set up a family court for every city or a town whose population exceeds one million.

Rijiju said he would request the state governments to set up family courts in every district.

The Family Courts Act was enacted to set up family courts to promote conciliation and secure a speedy settlement of disputes related to marriage and family affairs.

Two family courts were established in Nagaland in 2008 and three in Himachal Pradesh in 2019 through notifications issued by the respective state governments.The issue of lack of jurisdiction of the family courts in Himachal Pradesh came to the fore during proceedings of the Himachal Pradesh High Court last year.Another petition in the Himachal Pradesh High Court stated that the central government had not issued any notification extending the Family Court Act to Himachal Pradesh and the state government directives to establish such courts were without any legal authority.