Report No. 114

4.5. Panel of laymen to be kept for appointment of Panchayat Judges.-

To provide effective people's participation in the administration of justice, the District Magistrate and the District and Sessions Judge for each District should draw up a panel of laymen from respectable residents in villages comprised in the district having educational attainments preferably upto a University degree or atleast a Higher Secondary School Leaving Examination. It is not intended to exclude marginal farmers, farm workers or other local residents from being empanelled and it would be in the discretion of the District Magistrate/District Judge to include such persons even if they do not possess necessary educational qualifications. Depending upon the size of each Taluka/Tehsil, the List of panelists may vary from ten to twenty. The list should be got approved by the High Court. Provision may be made in the law that the High Court should approve the panel within a specified period and shall be deemed to have been approved after the expiry of the period.