ABSTRACT
The availability of a wide range of state and non-state actors and forums ensured institutional plurality in the sphere of dispute processing in the village communities of Gonjhé and the Dharamgarh valley. Within the state machinery, it was the state courts, police stations, and the several local level quasi-judicial authorities that the people in Gonjhé and the Dharamgarh valley could seek grievance redressal from, whereas in the non-state area, people had the options of pancāyats, notables, barefoot lawyers, and priest magicians (Ghurye 1957, 48). In addition, the communities in both locations could also look towards state-supported actors such as the Dispute Free Village Committee and Police Patil in Maharashtra, and the Grām Pradhān and Grām Prahari in Uttarakhand.
