FAMILY COURT
Explain briefly the concept of family courts.
In every society, marriage is one of the most important institute and it allows two persons of different sexes to live together under the same roof. Marriage arises some matrimonial obligations and it is duty of both the spouses to fulfil these matrimonial obligations and enjoy the companionship of each other.
But sometimes, some dispute arises between parties and due to these disputes it becomes very difficult for them to live with each other. Sometimes, parties themselves solve the disputes and start living together but sometimes, the intervention of courts become necessary and any of the spouses files a petition before the court for the settlement of dispute.
As we all know, the procedure of normal courts is very lengthy and a time-consuming and because of this, parties have to wait for “n” number of years and due to this the differences between spouses increasing day by day. That is why, for the speedy disposal of cases, the Government of India enacted Family Courts Act in the year 1984 and established family courts.
The main objective of family courts is to promote conciliation and secure speedy settlement of disputes relating to marriage and family affairs and matters connected therewith. Ordinary courts are based on “Adversary model” and in this one party wins the case and other party loses the case whereas in family courts the main aim is to reconcile the matter between spouses and tries to solve all the disputes among them.
According to Family Courts Act, 1984, family courts have jurisdiction to try all the cases of divorce, restitution of conjugal rights, marriage, guardianship maintenance, property of spouses and all matters related to marriage. According to this act, family courts have power to follow their own procedure for conciliation and to reconcile the matter. But otherwise, family courts follow the procedure laid down in Code of Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure Code.
The main task of these courts is to dispose of the matter as soon as possible and to try to solve the dispute between the parties. Family courts try to reunite the parties so that they help the society in continuation by adding a unit into it.
This task of family courts make it different from ordinary courts because in ordinary courts it takes about 10 to 12 years to decide the matter and at the end these courts separate the parties whereas family courts try to reunite them after clearing all the doubts.
