INCREASING MISAPPROPRIATION OF PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATIONS- (Article)

 

                                                                                               ABSTRACT

Every human being has the right to live in a clean and sustainable environment which poses to be one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution under Article 21. Individual persons join together to form a society and society plays a main role in shaping one’s future and character. Hence it is the collective responsibility of everyone to take care of each other. When people cannot speak up for themselves when their collective rights get infringed, there comes into existence the concept of Public Interest Litigation. Anyone who has the public interest without selfishness is eligible to file a PIL. In the beginning, when times were good, these Public Interest Litigations played a main role in eliminating the illegal activities which misshaped the society. But as time passed by, this concept has become a weapon in the hands of those who wish to secure fame and popularity in the society. This paper analyses how far such Public Interest Litigations are misused and the persons who get benefitted by doing so.

This paper also analyses various case laws related to this concept and makes a comparative analysis of the old and the current scenario. It also explains the concept of PILs and gives suggestions as to what can be done for the betterment.

KEYWORDS: Public Interest Litigations, Supreme Court, High Courts, The Indian Constitution.

                                                                 INTRODUCTION

“Life means not only physical existence. It means the use of every limb or faculty through which life is enjoyed…. The right to life includes the right to a healthy environment.”

                                                                                         -Justice PN Bhagwati

Public Interest Litigations are the petitions that can be filed by any person acting bonafide without malicious intent. Justice PN Bhagwati introduced this concept which is considered to be a great initiative of the judiciary till date.[1] These petitions, without limiting generality of the name, shall mean a litigation undertaken for the purpose of redressing genuine, substantive or larger public injury or public grievance or for enforcing public duty or for vindicating public interest but shall not include a matter involving individual, personal or private grievances of the petitioner or anyone else. These petitions can be filed by any person who has social care, on behalf of the socially disadvantaged people who cannot speak up for themselves due to various reasons. These petitions are considered to be the life savers for many people. There are several reasons for which a PIL can be filed which includes bonded labors, neglected children, petition against police not registering a case, etc.… Public Interest Litigations can be filed under Article 32 and Article 226 of the Indian Constitution to the Supreme Court and the High Court respectively. This concept is against the rule of locus standi in which only the affected party can file a case and seek for the remedy. It is the power given to the public by courts through judicial activism. But there are several challenges involved in the process so as to segregate the petitions of public and private interest as many people misuse the concept.

                                                              ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

 

Till 1980s, all litigations were based on individual interest and public interest remained dormant. In the midst of 1980s, the judiciary threw light on the concept of Public Interest Litigations which granted permission to any person, social groups, communities, etc... to plea for the public interest of people who cannot approach the court by themselves due to low economic reasons. The court can itself take cognizance of the matter. It can also take up the petition of any public spirited individual. This method aims to protect the rights of the weaker, socially disadvantaged and oppressed people of the society.

 Justice Krishna Iyer introduced the concept of PIL in 1976 in Mumbai Kamagar Sabha vs. Abdul Thai[2] and was initiated in Raihvaiy vs. Union of India[3], in which an unregistered association of workers was permitted to put forth a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution to seek remedy for their common grievances. In Hussainara Khatoon vs. State of Bihar[4], PIL was filed by an advocate on the basis of the news  published in the Indian Express in Bihar. Due to this litigation, more than 40,000 under trial prisoners have been released. Right to speedy trial emerged as a basic fundamental right which had been denied to these people in prison. The subsequent cases adopted the same pattern.

A new period of the PIL movement was made by Justice P.N. Bhagwati in the case of S.P. Gupta vs. Union of India,[5] which granted access to any member of the public or social action group to invoke the Writ Jurisdiction of the High Courts or the Supreme court to provide access to justice. By this judgment PIL became a powerful tool to uplift the lives of people who were denied their rights. There are a number of cases subsequently formed which proved the success of Public Interest Litigations by giving justice to the disadvantaged people.

                                                 INCREASING MISUSE OF PILs

As per the saying, “every coin has two sides”, this concept also has its own loopholes where the petitions are being misused by a few people for self-interest, corporate gain, political advantages and popularity. The misusage also takes various forms which ultimately leads to the loss of hope in the judicial system. This destroys the very purpose for which this concept has been brought into play. There is a list of cases which prevent the abuse of the Public Interest Litigations wherein eminent judges have given suggestions. The Supreme Court of India has given a set of guidelines to be followed which consists several matters like the subject matter, the scope, format of PILs, etc.… Public Interest Litigations have acquired many names due to its increasing abuse which are ‘Publicly Interest Litigation’ , ‘Private Interest Litigation’, ‘Paisa Interest Litigation’ and ‘Politics Interest Litigation’[6]. The petitioner who approaches the court in public interest must come with clean hands, clean heart and a clean objective. In Ashok Kumar v State of West Bengal[7], the Court laid down certain conditions which has to be satisfied for PILs. They are

a)      the credentials of the applicant

b)      the prima facie correctness or nature of the information given by him.

 Public Interest Litigations can be dismissed by the Courts when they are filed for a private issue, the problem involving the question of policy of a company, issues having personal gain or political interest, etc.… They can be even used to tease or attack a person personally which should not be entertained by the court. In Common Cause (A Regd. Society) Vs. Union of India[8], the Petitioner filed a PIL praying to the court to enact a Road Safety Act owing to numerous road accidents. But the court held that it cannot direct legislation. The prayers made in this petition clearly shows that the petitioner wants the courts to make a legislation by amending the law, which is not a judicial function. So, this Petition was dismissed by court of law.

                                             CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

Hence it can be seen that Public Interest Litigation is a process to put forth any public problem before law. But as per the saying, nothing can be fully good so each concept has its own pros and cons. Thus, necessary steps have to be taken to curb all the illegal incidents in the bud. A suitable format can be prescribed for filing Public Interest Litigations. The court has to measure the seriousness of the petitioner. It should see whether he is actually representing the cause of the groups or persons. There is no doubt that this concept serves its best in protecting the environment and human rights. But also, the field has to be properly regulated so that it can serve the humanity in a better way.  

“The judicial activism gets its highest bonus when its orders wipe some tears from some eyes”

                                                                               -  Justice Krishna Iyer

[2]  1976 (3) SCC 832

[3]  AIR 1982 SC 149

[4] 1979 AIR 1369

[5]  AIR 1982 SC 149

[6] Justice Pasayat in M.C. Bhandari Memorial Lectures at Jodhpur on August 2001.

[7]  AIR 2004 Cal 46

[8] (2018) 13 SCC 440

 

-Cyndhia. JR

School of Excellence in Law.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MARITAL RAPES IN INDIA: AN UGLY REALITY- (Blog)

Image
Marriage is a very pure tie of two human beings based on their common love and respect for each other. When it comes to my view on marriage I completely agree with a dialogue in a famous Indian movie Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna Kehte Hain shaadi ki buniyaad sirf aur sirf beinteha mohhabat honi chaahiye kyunki agar buniyaad galat ho to rishte toot jaate hain (A marriage should always be based on immense love for each other cause a relationship based on anything else can’t continue long). In our Indian society, every so often marriages are ‘arranged’ by the parents of a girl and a boy. The girl’s family usually considers a boy who is earning well and has some family property a good match for their girl while the boy’s family every so often looks for a good-looking girl who can cook and do other household chores efficiently as being a perfect match for their boy. So, you can understand very well, love is something most disregarded when we talk about marriage in India. In suc...
Read more

CYBER CRIME : A NEW BREED OF CRIMINAL- (Article)

Image
  ABSTRACT Cybercrimes are a new class of crimes to India speedily expanding due to wide use of Internet. Dishonest and greedy people take gain of easy and free access to Internet and perform any acts to please their needs. The requirement could be physiological or psychological in nature. Online shopping and extensive use of “social media” are root cause of cybercrimes. Much cognizance created for cybercrimes and users were educated. But still individuals do not complain it to authorities. Even somebody do it then also police or crime branch incapable to clear such complains in practical time period. Postponement in justice will lead to NO registration of complain. This is not healthy condition in free democratic INDIA. The law IT (Information Technology) Act 2000 and numerous sections of the IPC are in place but in large population country like India and China, it is very difficult to regulate crime caused by cyber world. We need to have self-discipline for better society. We...
Read more

DIGITAL HEALTHCARE IN CORONA TIMES- (Blog)

Image
In these back-breaking times of unprecedented medical crisis, where it has become impossible to reach out to all the people in need of healthcare facilities, the strenuous efforts of the government are focused on the digital healthcare facilities to attenuate the effect of this pandemic. Amidst this chaos, one of the concerns of the government is regarding the suspected cases which can be broadly divided into two groups. Firstly, those people who have the concerned prodromes but the blood test reports are on hold. Secondly, the ones that came in contact with the positive patients but they have not been tested positive yet and are strictly advised to isolate. These people are required to visit the doctor daily until the final diagnosis report is out. This makes even the doctors more exposed to the virus as on average, 22% of the healthcare workers get infected by the virus. In several such cases, this complication has been deciphered with the introduction of virtual health care progra...
Read more