Dispute Free Village

The Home Department of the Government of Maharashtra has launched this innovative scheme for Alternative Dispute Resolution vide GR MIS:1007/ CR-238/POL-8 dated 19 July 2007. The moving spirit behind the scheme is the Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister of Maharashtra Hon. Shri R R Patil. The scheme is permanent in nature and was launched on the occasion of Independence Day 2007.

Considering the huge pendency of cases in various Courts and the inevitable delays in delivering judgement, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is the need of the hour. In fact this was the reason for the formation of Loknyayalas and Fast Track Courts.

At the village level, disputes often arise over petty issues. Even though initially few people may be involved, petty disputes if unresolved become bigger and start involving more and more people. Sometimes civil disputes take a violent criminal turn. Such unresolved disputes over a period of time may pose a threat to social peace and order, besides putting a strain on the criminal and civil justice system. The Mahatma Gandhi Tantamukt Gaon Mohim is a village level Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system which seeks to prevent the occurrence of disputes and to resolve existing disputes at the village level itself through people′s participation. This is all the more possible in view of the rich spiritual and social reformist ethos of Maharashtra.

The salient features of this mission are:

• Formation of Tanta Mukt Samities at each and every village in the state.
• Identification of existing disputes, classifying them into criminal, civil, revenue and noting
• Them down in a register maintained by the samiti.
• Preventive schemes and measures to ensure that disputes do not occur.
• Resolution of existing and new disputes in a democratic, fair and participative manner.

There is an annual process of grading and marking the performance of Villages Taluka, District and Statewise. Rewards range from Rs. 1,00,000 to Rs. 10,00,000 for the best performing villages. The scheme also has a public awareness and publicity component. There is a reward scheme for publicity to be given to press reporters ranging from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 1,00,000.

This mission will go a long way in ushering in an era of social peace, order and justice and will speed Maharashtra′s progress from Peace to Prosperity.