locus standi

Locus standi (standing) asks whether the person approaching the court has a sufficient interest in the matter. Traditionally only a person whose own legal right was infringed, the “person aggrieved”, could sue or seek a writ. The exception was habeas corpus, which anyone could seek for a detained person.

From the 1980s the Supreme Court relaxed the rule for public interest litigation: any public-spirited person acting bona fide may approach the court on behalf of those who cannot do so themselves because of poverty, disability or social disadvantage. Courts still refuse busybodies and petitions filed for private, political or oblique motives.

Example

Although not personally affected, the NGO had locus standi to file a PIL on behalf of the bonded labourers.

In Indian law

• Articles 32 and 226, Constitution of India
• S.P. Gupta v. Union of India, 1981 INSC 209: liberal rule of standing in public interest cases

See also

public interest litigation · writ · habeas corpus · cause of action

Read more in the study notes

• Rule of law and droit administratif (Administrative Law)
• Judicial control: public and private law remedies, writ procedure and ouster clauses (Administrative Law)
• Government contracts and state liability: the administrative-law angle (Administrative Law)
• Central Vigilance Commission, parliamentary committees and commissions of inquiry (Administrative Law)
• Arbitrators: qualities, appointment, challenge and substitution (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Stages and procedure of conciliation under Part III (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)