PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION TURNING TOWARDS PUBLICITY

INTEREST LITIGATION
ABSTRACT

Public interest litigation uses the law to advance human rights and equality, or raise issues of
broad public concern. It has most ideally and commonly been used to challenge the decisions of
public authorities by judicial review to review the lawfulness of a decision or action, or a failure
to act, by a public body.

One of the most recent developments in the legal field that took place in recent years for social
reform and social well being as well as for the illiterate and poor people is the Public Interest
Litigation. PIL was introduced in Indian jurisprudence to help raise the cause of social justice.
Unfortunately, it has instead become a tool for people to use these as either to gain publicity or
for political agenda. PILs these days are being used as a means to further prejudice and
communal hate in the name of public interest.

Currently, PIL is being misused by a huge number of people mostly comprising of celebrities
who aim to file vexatious petitions in the name of public spirit which constitutes as
malfeasance. Such dubious PIL‘s destroy the very essence of the judicial system as due to such
mischievous and baseless PIL‘s, the court‘s time is wasted and it thereby increases the
multiplicity of proceedings damaging the entire legal system. There are already important and
urgent matters which are ongoing in the courts but they are often being delayed due to these so-
called ‘Public Interest Litigations’ which are actually ‘Publicity Interest Litigation’.

This research paper helps to understand how public interest litigation is heading towards
publicity act and how can it be normalized. Though, there are already procedures to check upon
the credibility of PIL‘s being filed, but the judiciary system must adopt more strict assessment
regarding the evaluation of a PIL. If courts do not restrict the free flow of cases in the name of
PIL, the traditional litigation would suffer and the courts of law, instead of dispensing justice,
will have to take upon themselves administrative and executive functions which will cause
obstruction and delay in speedier justice delivery system. The PIL‘s should be only be permitted
in cases where there is a gross violation of fundamental rights by a group or class action, or
where basic human rights are invaded, or when there are complaints of such acts as which will
shock judicial conscience.
 INTRODUCTION

Public Interest Litigation opens doors of access to legal remedies for those seeking it for the
protection of rights and interests of themselves, others or public from being violated. It extends
the practice of litigation from being merely a prerogative of the aggrieved party to a remedy
seeking process which can be of great utility for matters of public interest. PIL is a concept that
entrusts the practice of lawyers as one of highly public spirited individuals acting in the best
interests of society. It allows litigators to bring about the desired changes through court ordered
decrees1. This is the reason why Prof. Upendra Baxi substitutes ‘Public Interest. Litigation’ with
‘Social Action Litigation’2 considering its effectiveness and potential to precipitate favourable
social changes.

The concept of Public Interest Litigation transforms the role of individual in initiating legal
proceedings3. It does so by bringing about an expansion in the scope of individuals who possess
a locus standi4 i.e. the right of appearance in a court of justice, or before a legislative body, on a
given question5. Considering high costs and time consuming nature of the process of litigation,
PIL seems to a perfect measure to counter the circumstantial bias which makes justice
inaccessible to the underprivileged class.

1
Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, “Growth of Public Interest Litigation in India”, Address by Justice K.G. Balakrishnan,
Chief Justice of India Singapore Academy of Law, Fifteenth Annual Lecture October 8, 2008,
available.at
http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/speeches/speeches_2008/8%5B1%5D.10.08_singapore_growth_of_public_interest
_litigation.pdf last accessed September 29, 2016, 19:22 IST.

2
2 Dr. Swapna Deka Madrinath, “Judicial Activism in Post Emergency Era”, Notion Press, 2015, last accessed
September 29, 2016, 22:43 IST.See Also Dr. Jaswal Nishtha et. al., “Human Rights and the Law”, APH Publication,
1996, p. 141 last accessed September 29, 2016, 22:43 IST.
3
Fowkes James, “Civil Procedure in Public Interest Litigation: Tradition, Collaboration and the Managerial Judge”,
Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law (1)3, pp. 235–253(2012), available at
http://joomla.cjicl.org.uk/journal/article/54 last accessed September 29, 2016, 15:58 IST.
4
Sharma Mritunjay et. al., “Public Interest Litigation: A Conceptual Framework”, Interscience Management
Review (IMR), ISSN: 2231-1513, Volume-2, Issue- 3, 2012, available at
http://interscience.in/IMR_Vol2Iss3/paper5.pdf last accessed September 29, 2016, 16:33 IST

5
Black’s Law Dictionary, Edi. 4, St. Paul, Minn. West Publishing Co., 1968, available at
http://www.nationallibertyalliance.org/files/docs/Books/Black's%20Law%204th%20edition,%201891.pdf last
accessed October 09, 2016, 16:27 IST.
It encourages protection of fundamental rights of individuals by facilitating the aggrieved or
others acting in public interest to invoke the jurisdiction of High Courts or the Hon’ble Supreme
Court. It has successfully stood as a safeguard of rights and interests of public on numerous
occasions. Further in this research paper, the researchers will discuss some important PILs that
have made remarkable impact.

Being a strong and influential initiative certainly has shown its utility over the years, but like
every other practice, PIL has its drawbacks as well. What are these drawbacks? How do they
affect present scenario? How can the challenges they possess be overcome? The researchers
will attempt to answer these questions further.

ORIGIN OF PIL

The term PIL originated in the United States in the mid-1980s. Since the nineteenth century,
various movements in that country had contributed to public interest law, which was part of the
legal aid movement. The first legal aid office was established in New York in 1876. In the 1960s
the PIL movement began to receive financial support from the office of Economic Opportunity,
This encouraged lawyers and public spirited persons to take up cases of the under-privileged and
fight against dangers to environment and public health and exploitation of consumers and the
weaker sections.

But India had to wait till 1986 when the then chief justice P.N. Bhagwati introduced public
interest litigation (PIL) to the Indian judicial system. The original idea was to give marginalized
citizens access to justice, but by the mid-1990s PILs had transformed the legal landscape with a
flurry of high-profile cases. PILs have achieved a place of great importance in our legal system.

In India, the first PIL was filed in the year 1976 - Mumbai Kamgar Sabha v. M/s Abdul Bhai
Faizullabhai and others [1976 (3) SCC 832]. The seed of the PIL was sown by Justice Krishna
Iyer through this landmark judgement. Soon thereafter, with the efforts of Justice Bhagwati, the
concept of the PIL evolved and developed to a great extent.
 EEFECTIVNESS OF PIL’S IN INDIA

The effectiveness of PIL is evident with the fact in recent time it has dominated the public
perception of the Supreme Court in India. The scope of court's duty has widened to formulate
policies making it mandatory for states to follow than just providing remedy through writ
jurisdiction. The classic example of this is the well-known case of Vishakha Vs. State of
Rajasthan [(1997) 6 SCC 241], in which group of women's organization collectively file a PIL
against government of Rajasthan, raising question of rights of working under article 14, 19 and
21 of the constitution of India.6

The case resulted in what popularly known as Vishakha Guidelines formulated by supreme court
since there was no law at that time protecting the women against sexual harassment at
workplace. The instrument of PIL has been often used by Indian judiciary for the cause of
environmental protection. It has proven to be effective tool in securing environment protection.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION

Merits
 Vigilant citizens can find an inexpensive remedy because there is only a nominal rate
of court fees.

 Litigants can focus attention on and achieve results pertaining to larger public issues
especially in the field of human rights, consumer welfare and the environment.

Demerits
 Many people started handling PIL as a tool for harassment because frivolous cases can
be filed without heavy court fee as compared to private litigations.

 Due to the flexibility of character of the PIL, the opposite party gets an opportunity to
ascertain the precise allegation and respond to specific issues.

6
Legalservicesindia.com
  The judiciary has been criticised due to the overstepping of its jurisdiction and that it
is unable to implement its orders effectively.

 PIL is being misused by the public agitating for private grievances in the grab of
public interest by seeking publicity rather than supporting the public cause.7

7
Retrieved on: http://www.manupatrafast.com/articles/PopOpenArticle.aspx?ID=a4a599a3-ee92-41da-aa0b-
b4201b77a8bd&txtsearch=Subject:%20Jurisprudence
 JUDICIARY AND PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
Role of Judiciary In Strengthening PIL

In India, the Supreme Court took the lead by allowing volunteer social activists - lay and legal, to
represent the interests of the poor in judicial proceedings. By expanding the doctrine of locus
standi in filing the petition and creating epistolary jurisdiction that enabled it to treat a letter
written on behalf of a disadvantaged person as a petition and examine the merits of the
grievances.

In India judicial activism was made possible by PIL (Public Interest Litigation). Generally
speaking, before the Court takes up a matter for adjudication, it must be satisfied that the person
who approaches it has sufficient interest in the matter. It was made so in favour of social action
and the court accepts its validity and steps in to set things right. Ideologically, such litigation and
judicial intervention born of it has transformed the classical liberal rights model enshrined in the
Constitution into a paradigm provided ‘rights’. Undoubtedly, such litigation has provided an
ordinary man an access to the apex court of the country.8

Abuse of PIL

However, the development of PIL has also uncovered its pitfalls and drawbacks. As a result, the
apex court itself has been compelled to lay down certain guidelines to govern the management
and disposal of PILs. And the abuse of PIL is also increasing alongwith its extended and
multifaceted use. of late, many of the PIL activists in the country have found the PIL as a handy
tool of harassment since frivolous cases could be filed without investment of heavy court fees
as required in private civil litigation and deals could then be negotiated with the victims of stay
orders obtained in the so-called PILs. Just as a weapon meant for defence can be used equally
effectively for offence, the lowering of the locus standi requirement has permitted privately
motivated interests to pose as public interests.9

CASES WHERE PIL’S DISMISSED DUE TO PUBLICITY ACTS

8
https://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l273-Public-Interest-Litigation.html
9
https://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l273-Public-Interest-Litigation.html
CASE-1

“ Publicity Interest litigation that too of a harmful kind”, says SC,dismissing PIL
seeking to control black magic, religious conversion by intimidation, threats.

THE Supreme Court Friday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by BJP leader
Ashwini Upadhyay seeking directions to the Central and state governments to control black
magic, superstition and religious conversion by intimidation, threats and deception.

“What type of petition is this? We will impose a heavy cost”, said Justice Rohinton Fali
Nariman.The bench which also had Justices BR Gavai and Hrishikesh Roy added it was a
publicity interest litigation and that too a very harmful kind.“I see no reason why a person of the
age 18 years can’t choose his religion. There is a reason why the word “propagate” is there in the
Constitution”10

CASE-2

The Janta Dal v. H.S. Chowdhary 1992 (4) SCC 305 wherein the Apex Court considered the
scope of 'Public Interest Litigation' wherein the Court elucidated the concept of public interest
and observed thus:

"The expression litigation means a legal action including all proceedings therein initiated in a

Court of law for the enforcement of right or seeking a remedy. Therefore, lexically the
expression PIL means the 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."

The Court gave a warning against misuse of PIL for personal gains & held thus:
"While this Court has laid down a chain of notable decisions with all emphasis at their command
about the importance and significance of this newly developed doctrine of PIL, it has also
hastened to sound a red alert and a note of severe warning that Courts should not allow its
10
https://theleaflet.in/publicity-interest-litigation-that-too-of-a-harmful-kind-says-sc-while-dismissing-a-pil-
seeking-to-control-black-magic-religious-conversion-by-intimidation-threats-and-deception-life-and-liberty/
process to be abused by a mere busy body or a meddlesome interloper or wayfarer or officious
intervener without any interest or concern except for personal gain or private profit or other
oblique consideration."
In the later part of the said judgement the Apex Court further observed thus:
"It is thus clear that only a person acting bona fide and having sufficient interest in the
proceeding of PIL will alone have as locus standi and can approach the Court to wipe out the
tears of the poor and needy, suffering from violation of their fundamental rights, but not a person
for personal gain or private profit or political motive or any oblique consideration. Similarly a
vexatious petition under the colour of PIL, brought before the Court for vindicating any personal
grievance, deserves rejection at the threshold".11

CASE-3

The Delhi High Court on Monday came down on several petitioners for filing "publicity interest
litigations" on various issues, like regulating news reporting of COVID issues and investigating
the alleged misuse of the Lt Governor-Chief Minister Relief Fund, saying these were filed
without any homework and imposed costs on some of them. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel
and Justice Jasmeet Singh said some of these pleas appeared to be filed on ideas which came to
the petitioners' minds while having tea or walking on the road.
"Chai peete peete idea aaya toh socha file karo PIL (while having tea you had an idea and
decided to file a PIL). That is not how it is done. You may have an idea while walking on the
road.
"You have to do some homework and then file the petition," the bench said while dismissing
with cost of Rs 50,000 a PIL seeking a court-monitored investigation into the alleged siphoning
off of amounts donated by the public in the Lieutenant Governor-Chief Minister Relief Fund for
COVID-19relief.12

11
https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-4861-courts-deprecate-practice-of-filing-pil-for-publicity-personal-political-monetary-gains-
impose-exemplary-costs-for-abuse-of-the-process-of-law.html
12
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/high-court-comes-down-on-publicity-interest-litigations-imposes-cost/articleshow/
82370191.cms
 13

Since 1985, there has been a striking increase in the number of PILs filed in the Supreme Court.
24,823 PILs were filed in 1985. By contrast, 70,836 PILs were filed in 2019.  The numbers
remained steady with few fluctuations between 1985 to 2009.From 2010 to 2013, the numbers
increased steadily, at an average rate of 21% per year. This was followed by a sharp decline-
nearly 1,500 less cases were filed in 2014 than in 2013. After this sudden drop, the numbers have
risen to their historic highest (70,836) in 2019. The partial data available for 2020 (upto
September 30th) indicates that the rising trend has continued.14

13
https://www.scobserver.in/journal/on-an-average-the-court-receives-over-25000-pils-a-year/#:~:text=Over
%20nine%20lakh%20PILs%20were,Supreme%20Court%20between%201985%2D2020.
14
Supreme court observer.
 15

15
https://www.scobserver.in/journal/on-an-average-the-court-receives-over-25000-pils-a-year/#:~:text=Over
%20nine%20lakh%20PILs%20were,Supreme%20Court%20between%201985%2D2020.
THE DARK SIDE OF PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION

PIL has amassed enormous momentum and popularity in the past few decades. It is easy to
ignore the ill effects and unwanted outcomes of this practice. There are many problems that arise
out of various traits of this public spirited form of lawyering which are needed to be dealt with
effectively and immediately.

Expansion in locus standi16, which is one of the basic characteristics of PIL many a times acts as
the cause of mala fide proceedings. The Supreme Court has recently criticized the practice of
filing PIL for the sake of publicity or other ill motives. The statement highlighted the fact that a
substantial amount of resources in terms of judicial time and efforts are spent on such cases.17

With PIL flourishing rapidly, there is a chance that judiciary might overdo the practice of
interfering with legislature and executive. The threat of judicial activism turning into judicial
adventurism daunts the Indian legal system in present times.18

Moreover, PIL if not used in the right way, adds up to the already existing burden on Indian
judiciary which has not yet been able to struggle its way out of the tremendous backlog of
pending cases. As accepted by the Supreme Court, PIL petitions eat up a considerable amount of
judicial time.19 This practice of delay and adding up of unnecessary burden strangulates the
judicial system in the shackles of backlog of pending work.

16
Ashok Desai and S Muralidhar, “Public Interest Litigation: Potential and Problems”, International Environmental
Law Research Centre, available at http://www.ielrc.org/content/a0003.pdf last accessed October 28, 2016, 18:00
IST.
17
J. Venkatesan, “Do not file PIL for publicity says Supreme Court”, The Hindu, April 15, 2006 available at
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/do-not-file-pil-for-publicity-says-supreme-court/
article3147808.ece last accessed October 28, 2016, 18:19 IST.
See also K.T. Sangameswaran, “PIL has to be used with great care, says court”, The Hindu, April 3, 2010 available
at http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/pil-has-to-be-used-with-great-care-says-court/
article743606.ece last accessed October 28, 2016, 18:24 IST.
18
Justice A.S. Anand, “Protection of Human Rights- Judicial Obligation or Judicial Activism”, Krishna Rao
Memorial Lecture, (1997) 7 SCC (Journal) 11 at 23.
19
Supra Note 31.
Present System of Checks
 Under the present system, only judges have the power to decide if a petition should
be admitted or dismissed while the job of the Registry (of the SC or of any high court) is
to ensure that technical requirements of filing a petition have been fulfilled by the
litigant.

 Petition gets listed for admission irrespective of its merit, eating away the court’s time
that could otherwise be utilised to hear the massive backlog of cases.

 Total number of cases pending before the SC, as on December 1 last year, stood at
56,994. The National Judicial Data Grid puts the total number of cases pending
before various high courts, as on March 17, at a whopping 42.89 lakh.

The Desired Steps

 There is a need for an effective deterrent to prevent such frivolous cases, especially
those that blatantly violate the Constitution, from being filed. Judiciary needs to be
more proactive in dealing with those who file cases purely to gain publicity.

 A litigant who takes liberties with the truth or with the procedures of the court should be
left in no doubt about the consequences to follow. All the courts should
imposeNexemplary cost against petitioners who try to choke the judicial system with
absurd PILs mocking both the basic law of justice as well as the secular fabric of the
nation.

 The court cannot abdicate its responsibility (of deciding whether a case deserves to
be heard) in favour of the Registry as it is within the powers of the court, and its Chief
Justice, to lay down broad guidelines for the Registry to follow while deciding what kind
of cases deserve to be listed.

 The Registry should be empowered to at least check the credentials of the person
  filing a PIL and those who have a prior record of filing such cases should be warned
of the consequences.20

SOLUTION

Though, there are already procedures to check upon the credibility of PIL‘s being filed but the
judiciary system must adopt more strict assessment regarding the evaluation of genuineness of a
PIL as, If courts do not restrict the free flow of cases in the name of PIL, the traditional litigation
would suffer and the courts of law, instead of dispensing justice, will have to take upon
themselves administrative and executive functions which will cause obstruction and delay in
speedier justice delivery system. The PIL‘s should be only permitted in cases where there is a
gross violation of fundamental rights by a group or class action, or where basic human rights are
invaded, or when there are complaints of such acts as will shock judicial conscience, then only
such petitioners be heard and the court should extend its jurisdiction for remedying the hardships
and miseries of the needy, the underdog and the neglected. It is the responsibility of the court to
evaluate that the PIL must be bona fide, it must not misuse the legal machinery, it should utilize
the process of court and if it is merely proxy litigation for personal gains, the exemplary cost
must be imposed. The PIL is essentially formulated to protect the basic human rights of the
general public and not to interfere with the functions and powers of the Legislature and
Executive. Thus, it is not a function of PIL to favor, criticize or discuss public policies21

CONCLUSION
20
https://www.drishtiias.com/printpdf/pils-from-public-interest-to-publicity-interest-litigations.
21
https://articles.manupatra.com/article-details/Publicity-Interest-Litigation-in-the-21st-Century
Under no circumstances, the court should allow any person to unjustly enrich himself by
hijacking the very process of PIL as it will scourge the entire constitutional spirit of Article 32
and will vanish the original intention behind the formulation of PIL i.e., to provide access to
justice to the deprived or disadvantaged sections of society. The broad line of division of power
between the branches of government should not be crossed in any case. And lastly, if the PIL is
found to be frivolous, necessary costs should be imposed as it will act as a deterrent upon future
offenders who will deter to file mischievous PIL‘s and also, to recover the damage caused to the
justice system and also to the public, by delaying and increasing multiplicity of proceedings.

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