public interest litigation
Public interest litigation (PIL) is an Indian development of the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Supreme Court relaxed the traditional rule of locus standi so that a citizen, NGO or journalist acting bona fide could approach it under Article 32, or the High Court under Article 226, for disadvantaged groups or diffuse public wrongs. Letters and newspaper reports have been treated as petitions (epistolary jurisdiction).
The proceedings are non-adversarial; courts appoint commissions, amici curiae and continuing mandamus. Limits: the petitioner must act bona fide and not for private, political or publicity motives; frivolous PILs are dismissed with costs. Undertrial prisoners, bonded labour and environment cases were early examples.
Example
The newspaper report on undertrials held beyond the maximum sentence was converted into a public interest litigation.
In Indian law
- S.P. Gupta v. Union of India, 1981 INSC 209: liberal rule of locus standi for public interest cases
- Articles 32 and 226, Constitution of India
See also
locus standi · judicial activism · continuing mandamus · writ
Read more in the study notes
- Judicial control: public and private law remedies, writ procedure and ouster clauses (Administrative Law)
- Drafting a memorandum of understanding, petitions and PIL (Business Communications)
- Consumerism, the consumer movement and voluntary organisations (Business Environment)
- Articles 23 and 24: right against exploitation (Constitutional Law I)
- Articles 32 and 226: constitutional remedies, the writs and PIL (Constitutional Law I)
- Writ petitions under Articles 32 and 226 (Drafting, Pleading and Conveyance)