public nuisance

Public nuisance is both a crime and a ground for civil action. It is an offence under the BNS to do an act or be guilty of an illegal omission that causes common injury, danger or annoyance to the public or to people in general who live or occupy property nearby, or which must cause injury to persons who may have occasion to use a public right. Obstructing a public road and polluting a public well are examples.

A civil suit for a public nuisance can be filed by the Advocate General, or by two or more persons with the court's leave, even without special damage. An individual suing alone in tort must show special damage beyond that suffered by the public. Magistrates may also make conditional orders for removal of nuisances.

Example

The municipality was directed to remove open drains causing a public nuisance, because a statutory duty cannot be avoided by pleading lack of funds.

In Indian law

• s.270 BNS (old s.268 IPC): public nuisance
• s.91, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (suits relating to public nuisances)
• Municipal Council, Ratlam v. Vardhichand, 1980 INSC 138: magistrate's order under the old s.133 CrPC (now s.152 BNSS) compelling the municipality to abate a public nuisance

See also

private nuisance · nuisance · public interest litigation

Read more in the study notes

• Public nuisance, mischief and criminal trespass (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
• General exceptions: consent, good faith, compulsion and trifles (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
• Suits by or against Government and public officers, aliens and foreign States, and suits on public matters (Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act)
• Environmental policy and law before and after independence (Environmental Law)
• Common law and criminal law remedies for environmental harm (Environmental Law)
• The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and noise pollution (Environmental Law)