thic hur report

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peoples initiative for human rights

Advisory Committee

Mr. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyyer -Chairman

Mr. Justice K.K. Narendran

Dr. N.R.Madhava Menon

Dr. Larie Baker

Dr. Sukumar Azheekode

Mr. T.N. Jayachandran

Dr. M.A. Oommen

Prof. Ninan Koshy

Fr. Thomas Kocherry

Board of D ir ectors

Prof. K.G. Sankara Pillai -Chairman

Prof. Sara Joseph

Dr. George Mathen

Er. Paul Joseph

Dr. Francis Xavier

Mr. P.O. George

Mr. Abdul Azeez

Adv. Johnson Ainikal

Adv. George Pulikuthiyil -Exec.Dir.

Designed & Produced by Smriti, Tsr.Ph: 421229


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SOCIAL JUSTICE & FREEDOM FROM LITIGATIONAN EXPERIMENT BY JANANEETHI IN THICHUR VILLAGE

KERALA, INDIA

disciplining offenders. The elders in thevi llage who were well respected andaccepted by all for their erudition andintegrity, sat in judgment on all dissensionsand disputes, and pronounced appropriateawards. The society fully complied with theirdecisions. Thus we had a well-foundedpeoples court which functioned extremelywell. This system progressively gave wayto the present judicial system where thecourts, following complex procedureswhich are time consuming and expensive,have been made responsible for theadministration of justice. One major featureof the present system is the emergence ofprofessional advocates who occupy center-stage pushing the parties to the complaintto the background.

INTRODUCTION

A litigation-free village was indeed animpossible dream. But the people of Thichurvillage, a seemingly unknown, sleepy villagein Varavoor panchayat of Thrissur District,in Kerala State made it happen on the 7 thdayof May 2000. The road to success was slow,

hard and often frustrating. But at the end, itwas a moment of exaltation to cherish and ahistory to emulate.

Litigation-freeness is not a new concept.Mahatma Gandhi visualized it when he spokeof Grama Swaraj. The panchayat system inancient India had well established

procedures for grievance redressal and1


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JANANEETHI, THRISSUR

Litigation - free villages has been along cherished dream and objective ofJananeethi, a voluntary organization

engaged in programmes to promote humanrights and to provide legal aid to the poor.Advo cate George Pulikuthiy il , theExecutive Director of Jananeethi verbalizedhis dream at a seminar for the electedrepresentatives of the local bodies inThrissur district, jointly organized by theState Legal Services Authority and

Jananeethi, to mark the Legal Services

The present day system of justiceadministration leads to the avoidable loss of

considerable amount of man-hours, moneyand human relationship. And the sad fact isthat a large number of cases being dealt within the courts are those which do not requirethe attention of the courts at all. An oftencorrupt and expensive procedure, legalassistance progressively deteriorated as theprerogative of the affluent and the

influential. This must be one of the reasonsleading to piling up of cases in the courts andjustice being delayed to a large number ofpeople, particularly the poor and themarginalized.

The fundamental right of the poor for freelegal aid , the provisions for legal aid in theDirective Principles of State Policy, several

judicial decisions, and recommendations ofthe 14th Law Commission, paved the way forLegal Services Act ,1987 which wassubsequently amended in 1994. In 1998, inkeeping with the provisions of the Act, theKerala Legal Services Authority came intoexistence with the following objectives:a. To provide legal assistance to the needy;

b. To help them in legal matters connectedwith the court of law and simi larinstitutions, and to provide for legaladvice;

c. To organize Lok Adalats for mutualsettlement of pending cases, includingthose pending the High courts , and

d. To float a Legal Aid Forum for the benefit

of the poor.2


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Day, on 9th November, 1999. He said underthe guidance of District Legal Services

Authority, representatives of the voluntaryagencies and the faculty and students of theThrissur Law college will survey thecommunity for enlisting court complaints andpetitions pending with the several courts oflaw, government departments, local bodies,other service institutions and business houses.Settlement of disputes will be attempted at Lok

adalats to be held in the villages. Our dream is

to settle every such case once and for all, andto start a new chapter of social life of

friendship, fellowship, cooperation andsupport to each other. The Harmonycommittee to be installed in the communitywill oversee justice administration and sortout differences as and when they occur. Theparticipants received this idea withexpectation, debated the feasibility, anddispersed unsure on who will bell the cat.

Varavoor Panchayat shows the way.

A couple of days after the seminar, a delegation from Varavoor Panchayat led by Ms P.K.Saudamini, a former member of the Varavoor Panchayat met Adv.George Pulikuthiyil at theJananeethi office and expressed their interest to work towards a litigation free panchayat.

They had already shared the idea of a litigation-free panchayat with other members of thepanchayat committee and had obtained their oral support and concurrence to experiment intheir panchayat the idea of a litigation-free zone, of course a pioneering effort in the country.Jananeethi offered full support and leadership for the implementation of the idea.

On the 4th February, 2000 a meeting was held in the office of the Varavoor Grama Panchayat.Mrs. Seema Babu, the panchayat President, chaired the meeting. The meeting was attended bythe members of the Grama Panchayat, staff members from Jananeethi, representatives of theaccredited political parties, members of the social and cultural organizations, officers fromthe department of police and members of other service organizations.The President welcomedthe gathering and explained the purpose of such a gathering. She requested Advocate GeorgePulikuthiyil, Executive Director of Jananeethi to explain the idea of a litigation-free villageand to suggest a workable strategy towards implementing the idea. Adv.George Pulikuthiyiladdressed the gathering at some length and clarified doubts and apprehensions.There weremixed reactions. Some politically charged activists could not digest the idea. There wereclashes of personal and political interests. To experiment the idea of a litigation-free zone inthe Panchayat as a whole was found to be quite laborious. At the end it was resolved in the

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assembly that the idea of a litigation-free village would be taken up asan experiment in Thichur village which was formerly ward No 1 of the

panchayat and later reallocated to wards 9 and 10.

A momentous and historic decision had been made thus by thegrama panchayat of Varavoor! Those present, though unaware of whatthis decision involved, were sure that they had put their signatures toan epoch-making resolution and were determined to ensure thathistory was created in their panchayat.

THE SAGA OF THICHURThe peop l e o f Th i chu r : The people of Thichur are predominantly

poor. Almost every one except a few families belong to the Hinducommunity. Even among Hindus nearly 100 families belonged to theMarar community. This community is traditionally linked to the templeservices and rituals. They are also proponents of different art formsthriving with temple patronage. This must be one reason why several

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persons from the village have earned a namefor themselves in the fields of such arts.

The people are generally poor. Nearly 350families live in four harijan colonies locatedon the slope of the hill. The land holdingsare small. Men are engaged in agriculturallabour which is seasonal in nature. Thewomenfolk earn their living fromagricultural work or working as domestic

aids in well to do families in Thichur or theneighboring villages. The menfolk spendconsiderable part of their incomes onalcohol, tobacco and drugs. In fact, in mostof these families, the poor illiterate womenare the bread winners who look afterthemselves and their children.

Most of the litigations identified inThichur had a bearing on their poverty.Large number of complaints were related tothe colonies being denied water, electricity,sanitation facilities etc.The court cases werethose related to the payment of dowry,money lending, property disputes etc.

THE COMMUNITY COMES ALIVEOn the28

thof February, 2000,the people

of Thichur assembled in the courtyard of theSree Ayyappa Swami Temple. There wereabout 200 persons from the village who hadcome to know more about how to reach thetarget of litigation- freeness in their village.Some of them were curious, some cynical

and some others worried.5


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This meeting was designed as the curtain-raiser ofthe project. Advocate George Pulikuthiyil andAdv.Jasmine Joseph of Jananeethi spoke on theoccasion on the advantages of amicable settlements ofdissensions and disputes; and more especially thepositive out come in the social and cultural melieu ofthe people.

This public meeting was attended byMr.P.Mohandas, senior sub-judge of the district andSecretary of District Legal Services Authority,Mr.D.Ajithkumar, Munsiff, Vadakkanchery, the fieldstaff of Jananeethi and a host of other eminent persons.The meeting resolved to own the dream of a litigation -

free -Thichur and to work actively in pursuit of such a goal. A101-member Organizing Committee was also formed. Thefollowing persons formed the executive committee.

a. Shri.K Radhakrishnan, Minister for Youth Affairs and HarijanWelfare. (Chief Patron)

b. Smt.Fatima Abdul Khader, President, Thrissur DistrictPanchayat. (Patron)

c. Shri.Alkesh Kumar Sharma I.A.S, District collector, Thrissur.(Patron)

d. Shri.S.AnanthakrishananIPS, Superiendentent of Police,Thrissur. (Patron)

e. Smt.V.B.Seema Babu, President, Varavoor Grama Panchayat(Chairperson)

f. Shri.C.Vasudevan Nair(Vice Chairman)g. Shri.R.K.Jayaraj (Vice Chairman)

h. Shri. N.Satheesan (Vice Chairman)

Mr. Justice K.V. Sankaranarayanan

Dist. & Sessions Judge, R. Basant6


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i. Shri.C.Sankaran Nair (Vice Chairman)j. Shri.K.Gopalakrishna Panikkar

(Vice Chairman)k. Adv.T.R.Unnikrishnan (Secretary)l. Col.Narayanan (Treasurer)

m. Smt.P K.Saudamini (General Convenor)

Jananeethi deputed its law officer,advocate Ms. Jasmine Joseph as the projectofficer. Smt.K.K.Radhamani, Mr.Naveenachandran and Mr. Sudevan from Jananeethiwere to help her. Prof .K.V.Mohan,Dr.M.C.Valson, Mr.A.Suhrut Kumar and

nearly 40 second-year students of Gov.LawCollege, Thrissur volunteered to associatethemselves with the project. Advocate BijoFrancis, a socially motivated legal activistand a counsel of Jananeethi also volunteeredto be part of the project.

An office for the Thichur Litigation-free

village campaign started functioning in the

village from that day. Space for the officewas provided rent-free by Mr.N.Satheesan,Vice - pres ident of the orga nizingCommittee. Incidently, this room was beingused by Ms.Saudamini, the General

Convenor who was also in charge of the on-going literacy mission in the area.

Th e Com m un i t y Su r v ey

i. The Executive Committee in its firstmeeting decided to conduct a communitysurvey among the people of the village. The

objective of this exercise was to understandthe people, their resources and take stockof the nature and details of the cases,disputes or complaints pending with thedifferent agencies.

ii. A questionnaire to record details ofthe families was prepared by Adv.Jasmine

Joseph, and Mr. Suhruth Kumar. Student

Pre-Adalath negotition & counseling in progress

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who were likely to be implicated in thecases.

d. Discomfort in divulging details of thecases where intimate personal details andmarital relations were involved.

e. Non-availability of the persons whowere fully conversant with the details ofcases to which they were party to thedispute. Repeated visits to the same familywas sometimes needed.

f. The family members themselves notknowing the details of the cases.g.Sheer ignorance and insensitivity of

the people.h.Political maneuvering and

manipulations by interested groups likelawyers.

i. Conflicts of vested interests and bias

of people involved in the campaignj. Lack of enthusiasm to sett le thedisputes.

iv. The data gathering proved to betime consuming and difficult, but very

volunteers were assigned as investigators forthe survey. The student volunteers were

given a three-day orientation at the LawCollege and Jananeethi on issues related tothe nature of cases to be expected, theimplications of the same, recording themaccurately etc. As a learning experience thestudents were appraised on the legalimplications of the likely cases and themanner of dealing with them. They were also

equipped to initiate negotiations foramicably settling the cases amongthemselves.

iii. The student volunteers broke upinto 10 teams of 4 each. Each team was tocover 50-60 households. Each team wasassisted by a group of 2-5 local members of

the Organizing Committee. They wererequired to visit the houses prior to thestudents visit and facilitate easy interaction.Needless to say that the involvement of thelocal leaders was very helpful. The surveyprocess however, proved to be extremelydifficult. Some of the problems experiencedat this phase were the following:

a. The general lack of confidence amongthe people about the potential success of thecampaign and the consequent unwillingnessto give information about the cases.

b. Hesi tation to co-operate wi th theprocess for the fear of being exposed.

c. Fear of the wrath / retribution from the

opposite party or police or local authorities8


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is the Grama-panchayat, itself. As manyas 175 complaints (66.3%) out of 264 were

against the panchayat. The complaintsrelated to non availability of civicamenities like drinking water, electricity,sanitation facilities, road, street lights etc.29 complaints were against the differentdepartments of the government. Amongthem were Kerala State Electricity Boardand Kerala Water Authority. There was

no provision for drinking water in the fourcolonies inhabited by the backward castes.They had to walk miles to fetch water. Sowas the case with electricity.

v. It is surprising that in a communitylike Thichur, the major causes of peoplescomplaints are against the acts or omission

of the panchayat and the State / CentralGovernment Departments. It can also bestated with confidence that many morepersons who have grievances against thelocal bodies and the government have not

rewarding. Data thus generated wereanalyzed. A total of 264 cases were identified.

They were categorized as follows:

Table No. 1. Cases identified by categories,quantum, and percentage

No. Category No. %

1 . C ivil 3 5 1 3 . 3

2 . Criminal 1 4 5.3

3 . Family related 5 1 . 9

4 . Panchayat 1 7 5 66 .3

5. Government offices 2 9 10 .9

6 . Miscellaneous 6 2 . 3

Total 2 6 4 100.0

The table shows that the major agencycontributing to the litigation status in Thichur

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yet been able to file written complaints forseveral reasons known to them alone. The

fact that vast majority of complaintsoriginate from the bureaucracy and not fromthe people points towards the need forperiodic intervention to expedite the processof the accumulated grievances. It also showsthat there is an urgent need to evolve amechanism whereby the peoples grievancesagainst the government and the local bodies

be speedily remedied. The grama sabha(assembly of villagers, specificallyconvened to discuss issues relating to thewelfare of the people) also can be activatedto facilitate this process.

vi . It is also signif icant to note thatThichur community had 17 cases filed in

various courts of law. They may be classifiedinto the following categories:-

Out of the 11 suits pending before civilcourts, there were disputes over landedproperties, inheritance of ancestralproperties, money claims, breach ofcontracts, petitions for specific

performances, claim petitions forcompensation, sexual discrimination in thematter of family properties, partition suitsetc.

There were six suits pending trial beforevarious criminal courts. The main cause ofcriminal offences was assault may be

because people mostly get intoxicated at the

late hours of the day and pick up a quarrelwith someone on flimsy grounds. Many of

such offences belonged to the category ofcompoundable offences. One of the criminalcases belonged to the category of offencesagainst scheduled castes and scheduledtribes. Special permission of the respectivecriminal court was required to settle suchcase and parties concerned were requiredto appear before the criminal court to

satisfy the procedural formalities.

PRE-ADALAT COUNSELING

After the exhaustive stock taking of thedisputes, dissensions and discordsprevailing in the families, between families,between individuals and groups of people,

and also the pending cases in various courtsof civil and criminal judicature, the nextphase was to prepare all parties to therespective disputes / cases for amicablesettlement. This was a laborious exercise.The project officer and her team and alsothe representatives of the villagecommunity were deeply involved in the

process. The majority of the inhabitants ofthe village are daily labourers who go towork in the early hours of the day. It waspractically very difficult to meet them athome during the day time. Many of themindulge in drinking country-made liquorafter the days hard work. There again, theywill not often be in normal sense to deal

with controversial / disputed issues in a10


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peaceful manner. Hence, the volunteers andthe staff of Jananeethi often had to meet

them at their work places.

Another practical difficulty was the lackof awareness among the people. This wasreflected intheir inactivityor indifferencet o w a r d s

expediting theprocess ofsettlements ofd i s p u t e s .Majority ofthem wereunaware or notinterested to

know the legal,social or economic consequences of along pend ingsuit / litig ationin a court. Jana neethi staff and the volunteers had to meet them several times and

explain to each one of them the need,

urgency and the importance of settling casesout of courts.

In the mean time, the Executive Directorof Jananeethi was in constant touch with theDistrict Judge, the Distsrict Collector and

the DistrictSuperintendentof Police withrespect to the

progress of theproject inThichur. Thedistrict judge,Mr.R.Basantwho was alsothe Chairmanof the District

Legal ServicesAuthority wasp e r s o n a l l y very keen andwas in fullsupport and

appreciation of the concept of LitigationFree Village and in the democratization of

the process of administration of justice. He

Judges, mediators & concerned parties arriving at consensus11


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had directed the senior most Sub-judge ofthe district, Mr.P.Mohandas who was also

the secretary of the District Legal ServicesAuthority to provide all necessary guidanceto Jananeethi and to ensure that theprocedure adopted was consistent with theguidelines of the State Legal ServicesAuthority.The District Collector Mr.AlkeshKumar Sharma and the District PoliceSuperintendent Mr.S. Ananthakrishnan

were also very cordial and co-operative. Allthe three administrative heads of the districtsent word to their concerned subordinateoffices in the district to take heed andcooperate with Jananeethi in the process ofsettling cases and complaints of people ofThichur village. The banks, other financialinstitutions, the various departments of civil

administration, the local bodies and suchother corporate bodies who were connectedwith pending petitions / complaints in thevillage of Thichur also joined hands withJananeethi in sorting out such matters andsettling them in an amicable manner.

Pre-settlement Adalats

As mentio ned earl ier, the pre-adalatcounseling was a herculian task whichrequired a lot of hard work and patienthearing. The next stage was negotiations. Bynow, all the complaints / petitions receivedat the campaign office were classified. Eachpetition was taken into a file. The project

officer sat down with the District Legal

Services Authority and discussed possibleaction on each file. In the mean time she

contacted the opposite parties /respondents in each file and got theirconsent in writing to negotiate options andpossible actions on their files, and theirwillingness to settle the matter between theparties concerned amicably.

After completing this process, the pre-

settlement adalat was scheduled to be heldon the 2nd, 3rd and 4 th of May 2000 atSaraswathi Vidya Nikethan, Thichur. Fileswere allocated to each day based on thematter in issue and the number of partiesinvolved. There were three Benches, eachheaded by a retired judge, a senior lawyerand a social worker as a minimumrequirement. A team of three law studentswas assigned to each bench to assist in theprocess of negotiations. They prepared thetexts of agreement and made carbon copiesof judgements / agreement deeds. They alsogot the signatures of the parties and themediators (presiding officers) on thedocuments which were sealed by the DistrictLegal Services Authority then and there. TheSecretary of the District Legal ServicesAuthority, Mr.P.Mohandas, was presentthrough out the three days, ensuring thatevery thing was done in proper order and asper law.

The school and its surroundings wore afestive look. Hundreds of people were

gathered at the spot and remained there12


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watching the proceedings and assisting theorganizers. Police officers were deployed

for all the three days to help peacefulnegotiations. The organizers arranged lunchand tea for the presiding officers, thevolunteers and the students and also tosome of the petitioners who were not ableto travel home for lunch.

The dynamism and enthusiasm of the

students who did the pre adalat counselingworks deserve special mention. They, bythat time, knew whos who and theirweaknesses and strengths as well. They weresmart enough to penetrate into the mindsof the parties and obtain their consent forsettlements. This in fact made the job of thepresiding officers rather easy and saved

considerable time.

In three days time all the 264 petitionswere examined by the presiding officers andall parties concerned were heard insufficient detail and settlements werearrived at and were agreed upon by theparties without any external force in 253

files, leaving 11 files to the HarmonyCommittee to complete the process, as therewas lack of time to complete the work.

Retired district and sessions judgesSri.N.K.Vijayan, Krishnankutty Warrier.Govindan Nair and retired first class judicialmagistrate Sri.O.K.Namboodiripad,

advocates Sri.N.K.Unnikrishnan, Bijo13


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Francis, Seby J.Pullelyand A.L.Johnson,

members of thefaculty of Lawcollege, ThrissurS r i . K . V . M o h a n ,D r . M . C . V a l s a n ,A.Suhrut Kumar andMercy Thekkekarawere among those

who were deeplyinvolved in the

and Secretary respectively of the DistrictLegal Services Authority were constantly in

touch with every stage of the programmeso that every step taken was perfectlyconsistent with the provisions provided inlaw.

GRAMOLSAVAM( Festival of Life in the village)

Sunday, May 7, 2000 had beenscheduled to be the DAY of jubilation and

gaity, being the declaration day of Thichur

as the FIRST LITIGATION FREE VILLAGE

IN INDIA. The organising committee had

resolved to celebrate the day as Festival of

Life in Thichur. Roads were decorated,

colour lamps were put up in front of houses,

banners and posters appeared every where

and big cut-outs were fixed at the entrance

of major routes into the village, announcing

the birth of a village without hatred,

hostility, and court cases against another.

God was glorified and manifested in human

relationships and by mending strained

relationships the society was elevated to arealm where every body lived in perfect

harmony and tranquility as Fr. George

Pulikuthiyil rightly called the village the

Kingdom of God, where love and friendship

reigned in the place of disputes and

discords.

settlement of disputes.They rendered theirservices absolutelyfree of cost. TheDistrict and SessionsJudge Sri.R.Basantand the senior sub-judge of the districtSri.P.Mohandas whowere the Chairman

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The forenoon was devoted to the adalat.

The parties of 253 cases who had agreed to

settle their disputes amicably were required

to present themselves before the Sub-judge

who was also the Secretary of the District

Legal Services Authority to sign the

agreement in the presence of two witnesses.

As the agreement was stamped with the sealof the District Legal Services Authority, the

agreement was elevated to be a decree of

competent court upon which no appeal will

stand as the settlement was arrived at by

consensus with out any external force.

Hence this agreement was deemed to be the

final verdict as far as the matter wasconcerned. While the orginal copy of the

agreement was kept with the District Legal

Services Authority, the carbon copies were

made available to the parties concerned.

At 2.00 p.m. special lunch was served to all

including the judges, the staff of Jananeethi

and District Legal Services Authority, the

students of the government law college, the

local volunteers and the members of the

organizing committee by the villagers as

part of the celebration. The lunch was hosted

by the Sree Ayyappa Swami Temple

Committee, Thichur. On behalf of the people

of the village had started thinking that it was

their privileged duty to make the day a greatevent in the history of the village.

The most colourful event of the day was

the public meeting that was scheduled to be

held at 3.00 p.m. at the premises of the Sree

Ayyappa Swami Temple. The distinguished

guests of the day were to be ceremoneouslyreceived at the junction of the village which

was nearly 500 meters away from the venue

of the meeting. Honourable Minister for

Youth Affairs and Harijan Welfare and also

the member of the State Legislative

Assembly from the area

Mr.K.Radhakrishnan, Honble Mr. Justice

K.V.Sankara Narayanan of Kerala High Court15


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who was also in charge of the district of

Thrissur, Honble Mr. Justice K.P.B.Marar,

the chairman of the State Legal ServicesAuthority, the District & Sessions Judge

Mr.R.Basant who is also chairman of the

district legal services authortity, Smt.

Fathima Abdul Khadar, the President of the

District Panchayat, Sri.Alkesh Kumar

Sharma IAS, the district collector,

Sri.A.Anantha Krishnan IPS, the district

superintendent of police, the judges and

court officers of the various courts in the

district of Thrissur, the civil athorities and

panchayat officials, the subordinate police

officers, the members of the Executive and

Management committees of Jananeethi, the

staff and students of the Law College, the

distinguished personalities of the village whomade great contributions to the history and

civic society of Thichur, and a large crowd

of all ages and avocations were received with

traditional pomp and gaiety at the junction

and were taken in procession to the venue

with the accompaniment of nadaswaram andother traditional fanfare. Women of the

village offered aarati to the guests.

The public meeting started at 3.30 p.m.

The children of the Saraswati Vidyalayam

intoned a devotional song to mark the

beginning. Mrs. Seema Babu, the President

of Varavoor Grama-panchayat and the

Chairperson of the Reception Committee,

welcomed the galaxy of dist inguis hed

guests, other celebrities and the enthusiastic

assembly of people who had came even from

outside the village to witness the event of

THICHUR VILLAGE being crowned with the

title LITIGATION FREE.

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Ms.P.K.Saudamini, the general convenor of the organising committee

presented a detailed report of the 6 months long campaign to translate a dream,

seemingly unrealistic,into a reality in Thichur village. Sri.Vasudevan Nair, thevice chairman of the orgainising committee and the vice-president ot the

Varavoor Grama-panchayat read out the message from his Excellency Mr.Justice

Sukhadev Sing Kang, the Governor of Kerala. The message reads as follows:-

Governor of KeralaRaj Bhavan

ThiruvananthapuramApril 29, 2000

MESSAGE

I am happy to learn that Thichur village of Varavoor Panchayat, Thrissur district,is being declared Litigation free on 7thMay, 2000, perhaps the first of its kind in the

whole country.

Litigation is something the people may find difficult to escape from; there are,however, occasions when they have to resort to litigation, to appeal to thearbitration of courts. That we have crores of cases pending before our courts suggestshow cumbersome and time-consuming may be the legal processes. Against thisrather bleak background, the example set by the Thichur village is quite exemplary,and worthy of emulation by others.

Let me congratulate the people of the village on getting for themselves thisenviable title, litigation free village- I hope the message the Thichur village nowtransmits will reach every village in the State, and even out side the State.

I send my best wishes to the people of the village Thichur.

Sd/-

(Sukhdev Singh Kang)17


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integrity. They were selected by Jananeethithrough a secret opinion poll among thosewho were deeply involved in the campaign.

The members of the Committee are:a) Sri. N. Satheesan-Chairmanb) Smt. T.P. Radha Teacherc) Sri. K.P. Gopalakrishna Panickerd) Sri. C. Sankaran Nair, ande) Sri. K. Parameswaran

The judge also informed the assemblythat the Committee would evolve a strategyfor its smooth and effective functioning.Pointing to the importance of the HarmonyCommittee, Mr. Basant said, the court cases

which create winners and losers in the mind

will not bring peace in the society. Redressalof complaints and provision for adequatereparation by peoples committees, are thetrue indicators of development.

STORY OF THICHURThe Story of Thichur, edited by Sri. N.

Satheesan (Chairman, Harmony Committee),was released by Sri. P. Mohandas, thesecretary of district legal services authority

giving a copy of the book to Mr. R.Vijayarajan, Block Development Officer,Wadakkanchery Block, Thrissur. The bookunveils the history, culture and milestonesin the lives of the people of Thichur.

Harmony Committee in session

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(2) Ponnuveettil Ramakrishnan Nair

who stands top in the Country in Thavil, anaccompanying instrument in Karnaticmusic. He has over one thousands disciplesall over the country and outside.

(3) M.S. Ayyappan Vydiar who overthe years has been acknowledged as alegendary figure in traditional Ayurvedamedicines, particularly in the field of child

care and child diseases.(4) Thichur Vas u Warrier i s a n

eminent scholar and protagonist in PanchaVadya and Maddhala who championed thefields in theory and praxis for manydecades.

(5) Krishnan Athikkunnu, holder ofa national record and gold medal in Cross

Country Race.

THE PRIDE OF THICHURThough remote and rustic, the village ofThichur has its prominence in the culturalmap of Kerala. Thichur has produced severalstalwarts of national and internationalrepute in the fields of performing arts,traditional medicine and athletics. To payhomage to the legacy and talents of the

village, five of them were honoured at thepublic meeting in a traditional style withponnada. They are :

(1) Kavungal Chathunny Panikka rwho won National Award for Kathakali, themost revered traditional performing art formof Kerala. He is also winner of Kalamandalam

and State Awards.20


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The lessons from Thichur

The idea of a litigation-free zone wasconsidered to be utopian in the beginning.Efforts were made from 1993 inChapparapadavu panchayat in Kannurdistrict to declare the panchayat legallyliterate and litigation-free. Jananethi hasbeen involved in the ef forts from its

beginning. The desired result has not beenachieved yet.

The environment in Thichur was verymuch conducive for the purpose. The peopleof Thichur are simple, unbiased andpolitically less manipulated. Fortunately thepeople of Thichur had a strong desire to get-rid-of all court cases, hostilities and long

pending disputes among the people. Theywere quite impressed with assurances givenby Jananeethi and they had given free-handto Jananeethi in the matter of executing theproject.

Settling the pending cases/disputes bymutual consent was easy. What about the

future? Will the people accept the HarmonyCommittee? Leave assumptions; lets talkfacts. There were 84petitions received bythe Harmony Committee during last 12months. The committee was able to disposeall petitions to the satisfaction of the partiesconcerned. In two of such petitions,, theparties went to the local police stationwi thout approaching the Harmony

Committee. The sta-tion officer, on theother hand directed theparties to app- roachthe comm-ittee and thepetitions were laterdisposed of ami cably.

It is to be noted thatduring the last 12months, no one from

the village had to go toa court of law or toconsult a lawyer or tohave recourse to apolice officer on a complaint / petition. Today,the people of Thichurare confident that theirproblems can be sortedout and solutions are athand without alitigation they needonly to believe inthemselves and in theinherent good ness ofall others.

The message ofThichur is simple. Ifthere is a problem,there must be asolution. With peoplesparticipation, there isnothing like utopia.The experiment inThichur was a success

George Pulikuthiyil,Exec. Dir.

Adv. Jasmine Joseph

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only because of the good will of the people.

We live in age of alternatives. The quest

for judicial alternatives has been a subjectfor national and international debates,academic discussions and politicaljuggleries. Justice delivered through judicialmechanisms has become inaccessible to acommon man.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Mr.K.Radhakrishnan, the Honble Minister forYouth Affairs and Harijan Welfare who formallydeclared THICHUR as THE FIRST LITIGATION-FREE VILLAGE IN INDIA.

Honble Mr.Justice K.V.Sankara Narayanan ofKerala High Court who inaugurated the Festival ofLife in Thichur on May 7, 2000.

Honble Mr.Justice K.P.B.Marar, the ExecutiveChairman of the State Legal Services Authrorityfor his encouragement and support.

Mr.R.Basant, the District & Sessions Judgewho was also the Chairman of the District LegalServices Authority for his unfailing and consistentsupport, guidance and moral persuation.

Mr.Alkesh Kumar Sharma IAS, the DistrictCollector and District Magistrate who sent word toall civil authorities in the village to co-operate withJananeethis litigation-free campaign.

Mr.S.Ananthakrishnan IPS, the DistrictSuperintendent of Police who directed the relevantpolice stations and the concerned police officersto lend all necessary help and assistance asrequired by Jananeethi during the campaign.

Mr.P.Mohandas, the senior most sub-judge andthe Secretary of the District Legal Services

Authority for his close association and guidance

through out the campaign.

This is the reason why dozens ofrepresentations are being received fromorganizations and peoples councils at

Jananeethi office seeking help of Jananeethiin their town / village / panchayath as it didin Thichur. The destiny of India, we believe,rests in the deliverance of the people fromignorance and insecurity to deep sense ofself-reliance and self-help.

The President, committee members andexecutive staff of Varavoor Grama-panchayat fortheir co-operation and good will for the successfulcampaign of the litigation-fee village.

The Members of the Teaching Faculty, and thestudents of Government Law College, Thrissurfor the splendid services rendered by the studentsat all levels of the campaign.

Mrs.P.K.Saudamini, the General Convenor,Advocate Babu, the Secretary and all chairpersonsand convenors of various committees that workedvery hard for the success of the campaign.

The Press and Media of Thrissur whoextended whole-hearted help and support byallotting considerable space in their media for thecampaign at different stages.

The retired judges, court officers andadvocates of Thrissur Bar who were always of help

to Jananeethi being mediators, negotiators andconsultants through out the campaign.

Of course, the People of Thichur village withoutwhose good will and co-operation the idea oflitigation-free village would have remained onlywishful thinking, and

More importantly, the executive staff ofJananeethi, the Members of its Board of Directorsand its Friends who laboured day and nightswithout rest until the target was achieved on May7,2000.22


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Litigation-free

A geographic area or a

community of people where

there are no court cases / civildisputes / pending petitions.

A litigation in this context

implies disputes of civil na-

ture and compoundable

criminal offences. It can be a

dispute over property,

money matters, conjugal

rights, or any other matter

except that fall under thehead non compoundable of-

fences in Indian Penal Code.

Litigation-free is a status

or recognition bestowed

over a community or an area

of civic activity where all

pending disputes / conflicts

/ quarrels / cases are settled /

disposed off / withdrawn /sorted out in an atmosphere

of mutual trust or friendship

or co-operation. It doesnt

mean that there wont be a

dispute in that area / com-

munity. Rather, it ensures

that every dispute will be

disposed off amicably at its

source by effective negotia-

tion / mediation by a Har-

mony Committee, consti-

tuted of highly respectable

elders of the place.

Jananeethi

A registered NGO ac-

credited by the State Legal

Services Authority, devoted

for the protection & promotion of human rights, free

legal aid and assistance, public interest litigation, envi-

ronmental advocacy, gender justice, consumer rights, pre-

vention of suicides and defending the rights of the sexualminorities, the children, the dalits, and the unorganized

labourers.

Panchayat : (Also as grama-panchayat) Basic unit

of local self-government. With the introduction of the

much acclaimed Panchayat Raj Act, the decentralizatin

of powers and the Peoples Plan, 40% of the State bud-

get has been allocated to Panchayats.

Ward : A panchayat is divided into many small seg-

ments for administrative convenience, based on the popula-tion, area and other geographical features. Each Ward will

have a representative called a Ward Member and all Ward

Members together constitute the Panchayath Council.

Nadaswaram: A wind instrument ( an Indian ver-

sion of bugle ) used on very auspicious occasions like

marriage, celebrations, temple festivals, solemn public

receptions of very important persons etc etc.

Arathi: A traditional form of welcoming highly dis-

tinguished personalities, often by girls in traditional cos-tumes holding lighted camphor and flowers on a platter

in their out-stretched hands.

Ponnada: A long cloth bordered with golden panels

used for honouring especially distinguished celebrities

as a symbol of public homage.

Kathakali: A much acclaimed traditional perform-

ing art form of Kerala, the legendary and mythological

characters being presented in dance style.

Grama Swaraj :A concept propounded by Ma-

hatma Gandhi who envisaged an Independent, self-ruled

system of local governance.

Legal Servi ces Author ity:

A system introduced by the Union Government of India

to provide legal aid to the poor and needy, to promote

legal literacy and to organize Lok Adalats in the villages

for fast and inexpensive disposal of suits and civil dis-

putes. Every state has a State Legal Services Authority

GLOSSARY

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with a retired high court judge as its chairman and a district judge as its secretary. Every district has a District Legal

Services Authority with the district and sessions judge as its chairman and the senior most sub-judge as its

secretary. Every district will have an accredited voluntary organization to help the district legal services authority

in implementing the aims and objectives of the Authority.

Lok Adalat : Settlement of cases / disputes outside the court. Complainants and respondents of cases are

invited to negotiate in the presence of judicial officers / retired judges / senior lawyers / social workers who are

appointed / deputed for the purpose and who will help the parties to the case to arrive at amicable settlements. The

Lok Adalats can be organized in villages or wherever it is required with the help of the local civil administrative

bodies. The motto of Lok Adalat is that justice is delivered at your door-steps.

Thavil : A traditional percussion instrument used for religious rituals and such other performances.

Maddhalam: A traditional percussion instrument used for religious rituals and festivities.

Panchavadyam: Five major musical instruments of temple arts played together to mark the splendor of a

celebration.

AyurvedaThe Indian system of medicine and treatment.

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peoples initiative for human rights

Jananeethi , T.B. Road , Mission Quarters, Thrissur 680001, Kerala India.

Tel.91-487-427338,444473 Fax: 91-487-444474

[email protected] / [email protected], Web: www.jananeethi.org

thic hur report

Documents