This article is written by VAASU AGRAWAL, a 3rd year B.A. LL.B. student at UPES School of Law, Dehradun.
The opposite of poverty is not wealth; the opposite of poverty is justice. This was infamous yet a true saying of the era when accessibility to court and justice was as tough as amending parts of our constitution. Well drafted Constitution, Statutes and Bi-Laws have one element which is common viz., Far-sighted provisions but Inaccessible to the downtrodden section of the society. Article 14 of the Indian Constitution is specific and detailed provision regarding equality of law. However, there have been numerous instances where the wage-earners faced inhuman oppression despite being in the world’s largest democracy.
India achieved the tag of Independent Country in 1947 after a long time of savagery and barbarism. The country was already facing serious economic and security concerns along with several political issues that undermine the integrity of the nation, thence, these issues, even if arose, were either neglected or didn’t find importance in the eyes of government as 1970s was the decade of tussle between the then incumbent government and the Judiciary. It was remotely under control of the government. However, being a common law country, most of the reforms in India are guided by judicial decisions and Ratio Decidendi provided therewith.
EVOLUTION OF PIL IN INDIA:
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) evolved as a mechanism to redress public grievances and compel the government to take remedial measures in a prompt, effective and fair manner. It is an important tool of legal justice that guarantees the fundamental rights to life and liberty of all individuals and helps in ensuring good governance. Tracing back to the origins of PIL, we have come a long way from its birth in 1950 to the present day where its use has been vastly expanded and includes petitions relating to a wide range of issues including health, education, environmental protection, domestic violence, equality etc.
Affirmative Action traced back to the years of racism in the US, where people were not allowed to enter certain jobs or college seats on the basis of their race, was a significant issue for the African-American community and the struggle for civil rights during this period often resulted in riots and violence. In 1952, the Supreme Court in the US ruled that segregation in public schools based on race was unconstitutional and, as a result, ended the practice of segregation in schools. This led to the formation of a number of non-profit groups that sought to provide scholarships to underprivileged children to help them get into the top colleges of their choice, regardless of their race or economic background. These organizations were also instrumental in helping African Americans secure jobs and address issues of discrimination in the workplace. Around the 1960s, these organizations also advocated for the enactment of affirmative action policies in government and private institutions to help disadvantaged communities improve their economic situation and provide them access to quality education and employment opportunities. Public Interest Litigation (PIL) came about as a result of these efforts to ensure that government policies and programs were formulated keeping in mind the interests of the entire community and addressing the social and economic challenges faced by marginalized sections of society. While PIL was initially mainly used to address issues relating to poverty and inequality within society, it has since been expanded to include other issues as well.
The PILs in India brings us to Art 32 and Art 226 of the Indian Constitution. Art. 32 confer the right to move to the Supreme Court to seek justice when an individual feels he or she has been unduly deprived of their right(s). Whereas Art 226 talks about the rights of HCs to issue writs; Hussainara Khatoon v. State of West Bengal, is the first reported case of PIL in India. From a time when humans were considered sub-human or inferior due to the colour of their skin or a made-up race (caste system), to a time when we Indians have started to stand up against issues such as corruption, social injustice and discrimination, PILs have played an important role in shaping up the laws in the country. Today, there are thousands of PILs pending in the courts of India for a variety of reasons including gender equality, freedom of speech, right to education, access to justice, child labour etc. Often related to human rights, social issues and/or environmental issues, the courts have time and again been at the forefront of ensuring equality for all sections of society and protecting the rights of the underprivileged.
Almost every Indian has either been the victim of a crime at some point in their life or has heard of someone close to them having experienced something unjust at some point in their life. Recently, there has been a growing movement for victims of such crimes to get justice. Several organizations have come up in recent years that are working towards ensuring that every victim of a crime gets justice and is compensated for their losses.
Even Though the government is supposed to be by the people, for the people and of the people but time and again the innocents suffer at the hands of corrupt police and government officials and get let down by the courts just because they don’t have the money to fight it out in the court, which is exactly why NGOs have come up to take up such cases where otherwise the government would not take any initiative to handle it. Whenever or wherever governments fail to recognize the need of the people, someone or some organization steps up to take care of it and the civil society of the country rises up to support the cause, this is exactly how public interest litigations have happened in our country. Public interest litigations in simple words are situations where people raise issues on grounds of social, economic, political and environmental injustice and try to initiate action for the same. So, as long as more than one person shall exist in the world, and resource distribution shall be unequal on the basis such as money, power, etc, there shall be necessity for PILs and therefore the system and working of PILs will keep evolving to satisfy the needs of the changing society.
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