What is Public Interest Litigation (PIL)?
Public Interest Litigation is generally described as “something in which the public, the community at large, has some pecuniary interest or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected.”
PIL is not defined in any statute or act. It has been interpreted by judges to consider the intent of public at large.
How the PIL has evolved in India?
Till 1960s and 1970s, the concept of litigation in India was seen as a private pursuit for the vindication of private vested interests. The initiation and continuance of litigation was the prerogative of the injured person or the aggrieved party which was greatly limited by the resources available with those individuals. There were very little organised efforts or attempts to take up wider issues that affected general public at large.
However, this scenario had changed during Eighties with the Supreme Court of India led the concept of Public Interest Litigation. It gave all individuals in the country and the newly formed consumer groups or social action groups, an easier access to the law and introduced in their work a broad public interest perspective.
What is the constitutional base for the evolution of PIL in India?
Public Interest Litigation arose as a challenge to the traditional model of adjudication. The Constitution of India provides the legal basis for the development of PIL. Under Article 32, the Supreme Court of India had original jurisdiction over all the cases concerning fundamental freedoms enumerated in Article 14 thru 25. If a fundamental freedom has been allegedly violated, the complainant may seek redress directly from the Supreme Court of India. Article 32 specifically allows this method of redress. The Supreme Court has suggested that Article 226 is broader and, as such, if the complaint is of a “legal wrong” the correct forum is State High Court. The Supreme Court of India upheld this interpretation of these articles as gateways to PIL actions.
Name the judges who introduced PIL in India?
Justice P N Bhagwati and Justice V R Krishna Iyer
Who can file a PIL?
Any public-spirited person can file a PIL on behalf of a group of persons, whose rights are affected. It is not necessary, that person filing a case should have a direct interest in this PIL
What are the conditions to be fulfilled to file a PIL?
a) There must be a public injury and public wrong caused by the wrongful act or omission of the state or public authority.
b) It must not be frivolous litigation by persons having vested interests.
Against whom PIL can be filed?
PIL can be filed only against a State Government, Central Government, Municipal Authorities, and not any private party. However a “Private party” can be included in the PIL as a “Respondent”, after making the concerned State authority a party.
What are the characteristics of PIL?
a) Procedural Flexibility: The Supreme Court of India can be flexible regarding the rules of procedures in PIL actions. To broaden access to justice, actions may be commenced by a formal petition or by just writing a letter to the court.
Eg: Advani v. Madhya Pradesh, the court accepted a clipping of a newspaper story about bonded labourers as the basis for a PIL action.
b) Relaxed Rules of Standing: The traditional rules of standing require the participants have some real interest in the action. The Supreme Court relaxed the rule of locus standi.
c) Activist Interpretation: Through PIL, the Indian courts have expanded their interpretation of the fundamental freedoms protected in Indian Constitution.
Eg: In Tellis v. Bombay, the Court held that the right to life “is wide and far reaching” and includes the right to a livelihood.
d) Remedial Flexibility: The Indian courts have flexibly interpreted their inherent power to do justice. For example, petitions may be made directly to the Supreme Court of India, rather than through the usual civil process.
Eg: In Mehta v. India, a chemical plant was closed after a gas leak.
What are the criticisms of PIL in India?
a) Judicial Activism: PIL has clearly resulted in Indian judges encroaching upon parliament’s policy and administrative functions.
Eg : Bhandua Mukti Morcha
b) “Publicity” Interest Litigation: PIL is being used by corporations and elites to further their interests in the name of the “public.”
Eg: A petitioner filed a PIL at the Delhi High Court to stop a visit by Pakistan’s President, Gen.Pervez Musharraf.
c) Lawyers are more concerned with the publicity generated by a large-scale PIL case than by the actual outcome of that case.
What are the effects of “Publicity” Interest Litigation?
The rise of “Publicity” Interest Litigation has two effects: First, some disadvantaged or impoverished groups or people might not be able to secure counsel to forward their genuine PIL claims. Second, the courts’ dockets are being crowded with so many PIL cases, plaintiffs might be dissuaded from seeking a judicial remedy or the case might take too long for the remedy to be effective.
What needs to be done?
Justice Bhagwati argues that PIL is “a sustained effort on the path of the highest judiciary to provide access to justice for the deprived sections of Indian humanity.” Through relaxed rules of procedure and standing and many other tools, PIL has become a powerful tool for many Indians seeking to protect fundamental human rights.
PIL now does require a complete rethink and restructuring. Anyway, overuse and abuse of PIL can only make it stale and ineffective. Since it is an extraordinary remedy available at a cheaper cost to all citizens of the country, it ought not to be used by all litigants as a substitute for ordinary ones or as a means to file frivolous complaints. PIL has translated the rhetoric of fundamental rights into living reality for at least some segments of our exploited and downtrodden humanity. Under trial prisoners languishing in jails for inordinately long periods, inmates of asylums and care homes living in sub-human conditions, children working in hazardous occupations and similar disadvantaged sections. Hence, any change to improve it further should be encouraged and welcomed.
Public Interest Litigation is generally described as “something in which the public, the community at large, has some pecuniary interest or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected.”
PIL is not defined in any statute or act. It has been interpreted by judges to consider the intent of public at large.
How the PIL has evolved in India?
Till 1960s and 1970s, the concept of litigation in India was seen as a private pursuit for the vindication of private vested interests. The initiation and continuance of litigation was the prerogative of the injured person or the aggrieved party which was greatly limited by the resources available with those individuals. There were very little organised efforts or attempts to take up wider issues that affected general public at large.
However, this scenario had changed during Eighties with the Supreme Court of India led the concept of Public Interest Litigation. It gave all individuals in the country and the newly formed consumer groups or social action groups, an easier access to the law and introduced in their work a broad public interest perspective.
What is the constitutional base for the evolution of PIL in India?
Public Interest Litigation arose as a challenge to the traditional model of adjudication. The Constitution of India provides the legal basis for the development of PIL. Under Article 32, the Supreme Court of India had original jurisdiction over all the cases concerning fundamental freedoms enumerated in Article 14 thru 25. If a fundamental freedom has been allegedly violated, the complainant may seek redress directly from the Supreme Court of India. Article 32 specifically allows this method of redress. The Supreme Court has suggested that Article 226 is broader and, as such, if the complaint is of a “legal wrong” the correct forum is State High Court. The Supreme Court of India upheld this interpretation of these articles as gateways to PIL actions.
Name the judges who introduced PIL in India?
Justice P N Bhagwati and Justice V R Krishna Iyer
Who can file a PIL?
Any public-spirited person can file a PIL on behalf of a group of persons, whose rights are affected. It is not necessary, that person filing a case should have a direct interest in this PIL
What are the conditions to be fulfilled to file a PIL?
a) There must be a public injury and public wrong caused by the wrongful act or omission of the state or public authority.
b) It must not be frivolous litigation by persons having vested interests.
Against whom PIL can be filed?
PIL can be filed only against a State Government, Central Government, Municipal Authorities, and not any private party. However a “Private party” can be included in the PIL as a “Respondent”, after making the concerned State authority a party.
What are the characteristics of PIL?
a) Procedural Flexibility: The Supreme Court of India can be flexible regarding the rules of procedures in PIL actions. To broaden access to justice, actions may be commenced by a formal petition or by just writing a letter to the court.
Eg: Advani v. Madhya Pradesh, the court accepted a clipping of a newspaper story about bonded labourers as the basis for a PIL action.
b) Relaxed Rules of Standing: The traditional rules of standing require the participants have some real interest in the action. The Supreme Court relaxed the rule of locus standi.
c) Activist Interpretation: Through PIL, the Indian courts have expanded their interpretation of the fundamental freedoms protected in Indian Constitution.
Eg: In Tellis v. Bombay, the Court held that the right to life “is wide and far reaching” and includes the right to a livelihood.
d) Remedial Flexibility: The Indian courts have flexibly interpreted their inherent power to do justice. For example, petitions may be made directly to the Supreme Court of India, rather than through the usual civil process.
Eg: In Mehta v. India, a chemical plant was closed after a gas leak.
What are the criticisms of PIL in India?
a) Judicial Activism: PIL has clearly resulted in Indian judges encroaching upon parliament’s policy and administrative functions.
Eg : Bhandua Mukti Morcha
b) “Publicity” Interest Litigation: PIL is being used by corporations and elites to further their interests in the name of the “public.”
Eg: A petitioner filed a PIL at the Delhi High Court to stop a visit by Pakistan’s President, Gen.Pervez Musharraf.
c) Lawyers are more concerned with the publicity generated by a large-scale PIL case than by the actual outcome of that case.
What are the effects of “Publicity” Interest Litigation?
The rise of “Publicity” Interest Litigation has two effects: First, some disadvantaged or impoverished groups or people might not be able to secure counsel to forward their genuine PIL claims. Second, the courts’ dockets are being crowded with so many PIL cases, plaintiffs might be dissuaded from seeking a judicial remedy or the case might take too long for the remedy to be effective.
What needs to be done?
Justice Bhagwati argues that PIL is “a sustained effort on the path of the highest judiciary to provide access to justice for the deprived sections of Indian humanity.” Through relaxed rules of procedure and standing and many other tools, PIL has become a powerful tool for many Indians seeking to protect fundamental human rights.
PIL now does require a complete rethink and restructuring. Anyway, overuse and abuse of PIL can only make it stale and ineffective. Since it is an extraordinary remedy available at a cheaper cost to all citizens of the country, it ought not to be used by all litigants as a substitute for ordinary ones or as a means to file frivolous complaints. PIL has translated the rhetoric of fundamental rights into living reality for at least some segments of our exploited and downtrodden humanity. Under trial prisoners languishing in jails for inordinately long periods, inmates of asylums and care homes living in sub-human conditions, children working in hazardous occupations and similar disadvantaged sections. Hence, any change to improve it further should be encouraged and welcomed.
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