Public Interest Litigation

March 19, 2023

This article has been written by Ms. Bhawna, a student studying B.A.LLB.(H.) from Teerthanker Mahaveer college of law and legal studies, Moradabad. The author is a 3^rd year law student.

INTRODUCTION

Public interest litigation is not defined in any statute or in any Act. It has been interpreted by judges to consider the intent of public at large. The introduction of PIL in India was facilitated by the relaxation of the traditional rule of ‘locus standi’. According to this rule, only that person whose rights are infringed alone can move the court for the remedies, whereas the PIL is an exception to this traditional rule. Under the PIL, any public-spirited citizen or a social organization can move the court for the enforcement of the rights of any person or group of persons who because of their poverty or ignorance or socially or economically disadvantaged position are themselves unable approach the court for the remedies.

ORIGIN OF PIL

The concept of public interest litigation has been borrowed from American jurisprudence. The PIL was originated and developed in the USA in the 1960’s where it was designed to provide legal representation to previously unrepresented groups & interests. It was an attempt to ratify the prevailing situation where the ordinary masses such as the poor, environmentalists, consumers, racial and ethnic minorities etc. did not have access to the legal system. In India, the PIL is a product of the judicial activism role of supreme court. It was introduced in the early 1980’s by Justice V.R. Krishna and Justice P.N. Bhagwati. Public interest litigation(PIL) is also known as social action litigation (SAL), social interest litigation (SIL), class action litigation (CIL). The first ever PIL is the case of Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar and it dates back to 1979 when a public interest activist lawyer filed the case on behalf of thousands of prisoners of Bihar jail in regards to the inhuman condition of the prison. The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice P.N. Bhagwati stated the right for free legal aid and expeditious trail of the prisoners which led to their release.

MEANING AND DEFINITION OF PIL

The concept of PIL is not discussed in any statute or in any Act. It was defined by the Supreme Court as “a legal action initiated in a court of law for the enforcement of public interest or general interest in which the public or a class of the community have pecuniary interest or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected.” Public Interest Litigation refers to the litigations filed before the court of law for the protection of the Public Interest. A Public Interest Litigation also known as PIL is a form of litigation that is filed to safeguard or enforce public interest. Public Interest is the interest belonging to a particular class of the community affects their legal rights or liabilities. It may include pecuniary interest. The introduction of PIL in India was due to the relaxation of traditional rule of “locus standi”. This rule stated that only the person whose rights have been violated has the power to move the court for remedy. PIL is an exception to this rule.

Article 32 of the Indian Constitution allows for the practice of Public Interest Litigation in which letters written by public-spirited people or organizations alleging violations of fundamental rights are converted into petitions. Thus, any member of the public with sufficient interest can approach the court for enforcing the rights of other people. PIL is necessary for the maintenance of Rule of Law. Any Indian citizen or organization can move the court for a public interest/cause by filing a petition in the SC under Article 32, in the High Courts under Article 226. 226. The court can treat a letter as a writ petition and take action on it. The court has to be satisfied that the writ petition complies with the letter is addressed by the aggrieved person or a public-spirited individual or a social action group for the enforcement of legal or constitutional rights to any person who, upon poverty or disability, are not able to approach the court for redress. The court can also take action on the basis of newspaper reports if it is satisfied with the case.

FEATURES OF PIL

PIL is a strategic arm of the legal aid movement as provided under article 39A of the constitution of India.
PIL is brought before the Court not for the purpose of enforcing the right of one individual against another as happens in the case of ordinary litigation, but it is intended to promote and vindicate public interest.
PIL demands that violations of constitutional and legal rights of large numbers of people who are poor, ignorant or in a socially or economically disadvantaged position should not go unnoticed and unredressed.
PIL is essentially a co-operative effort on the part of the petitioner, the State or Public Authority, and the Court to secure observance of the constitutional or legal rights, benefits and privileges conferred upon the vulnerable sections of the community and to reach social justice to them.
In PIL, the role held by the Court is more assertive than in traditional actions.
Though in PIL court enjoys a degree of flexibility unknown to the trial of traditional private law litigations, whatever the procedure adopted by the court it must be procedure known to judicial tenets and characteristics of a judicial proceeding.

SCOPE OF PIL

In 1993, the Supreme Court formulated a set of guidelines to be followed for entertaining letters or petitions received by it as PIL. These guidelines were modified in 1998 and 2003.

According to them, petitions falling under the following categories alone will ordinarily be entertained as PIL:

Bonded labour matters
Neglected children
Non – payment of minimum wages to workers and exploitation of casual workers and complaints of violation of Labour Laws
Petitions from jails complaining of harassment, for pre-mature release and seeking release after having completed 14 years in jail, death in jail, transfer, release on personal bond, speedy trial as a fundamental right.
Petitions against police for refusing to register a case, harassment by police and death in police custody
Petitions against atrocities on women, in particular harassment of bride, brideburning, rape, murder, kidnapping, etc.
Petitions complaining of harassment or torture of villagers by co-villagers or by police from persons belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes and economically backward classes
Petitions pertaining to environmental pollution, disturbance of ecological balance, drugs, food adulteration, maintenance of heritage and culture, antiques, forest and wild life and other matters of public importance
Petitions from riot-victims

Exceptions– The cases that do not fall under the category that will be entertained as PIL are:

Landlord tenant matters
Service matter pertaining to pension and gratuity.
Admission to medical or other educational institution.
Complaints against Central and State Government and Local Bodies.
Petitions for early hearing of the cases that are pending in the High Courts or Subordinate Courts.

THE SUPREME COURT LAID DOWN FOLLOWING GUIDELINES FOR CHECKING THE MISUSE OF THE PIL

The court must encourage genuine and bona fide PIL and effectively discourage and curb the PIL field for extraneous considerations.
Instead of every individual Judge devising his own procedure for dealing with PIL, it would be appropriate for each High Court to properly formulate rules for encouraging the genuine PIL filed and discouraging PIL filed with oblique motives.
The Court should prima facie verify the credentials of the petitioner before entertaining the PIL.
The Court shall be prima facie satisfied regarding the correctness of the contents of petition before entertaining the PIL.
The Court should be fully satisfied that substantial public interest is involved before entertaining the petition.
The Court should ensure that the petition which involves larger public interest, gravity and urgency must be given priority over other petitions.
The Court before entertaining the PIL must ensure that the PIL is aimed at redressal of genuine public harm and public injury. The Court should also ensure that there is no personal gain, private motive or oblique motive behind filing PIL.

CONCLUSION

PIL is an important judicial tool especially for the protection of the rights of those who are unable to approach the courts themselves. PIL has developed a new jurisprudence of the accountability of the state for legal violations affecting the interests of the backward category. However, the Judiciary must be cautious in the application of PILs to avoid Overreach which violates the principle of Separation of REFERENCE

Aishwarya Says:

Law students often face problems, which they cannot share with their friends and families. We have started a column on our website Student’s Corner. In this column we are talking to several law students about the challenges that they face. Students who are interested in participating in the same, can fill this Google Form.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THE SAME, DO LET ME KNOW.

The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.

If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems to aishwarya@aishwaryasandeep.com

Join our Whatsapp Group for latest Job Opening

March 19, 2023