Public interest litigation (PIL): India
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Frivolous PILs
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009 2010
SC lays down guidelines to prevent frivolous PILs
Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN
New Delhi: Despite the undeniable social benefit of public interest litigation (PIL), the Supreme Court has expressed concern over gross abuse of this instrument in courts in the recent past.
To curb PILs from being hijacked by vested interests, a Bench comprising Justices Dalveer Bhandari and M K Sharma has laid down a 10-point stringent guideline for all high courts, including imposing exemplary cost on busybodies and frivolous PIL petitioners.
Terming PIL jurisdiction as extremely important, the Bench said guidelines were necessary to preserve the purity and sanctity of PILs. Highlights of the guidelines are:
Encourage genuine and bonafide PIL and discourage and curb those filed for extraneous considerations.
Instead of every individual judge devising his own procedure for dealing with public interest litigation, it would be appropriate for each HC to properly formulate rules for encouraging genuine PILs and discouraging PILs filed with oblique motives. HCs should frame rules in this regard within three months.
Verify credentials of petitioner before entertaining a PIL.
Ascertain correctness of facts mentioned in PIL.
Check whether substantial public interest is involved.
Give priority to PILs involving larger public interest.
Ensure that the PIL seeks redressal of a genuine public harm or injury and that there is no personal gain, private motive or oblique motive behind it.
'Litigants should approach the government before courts'
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009
‘Approach govt before courts’
Will Not Allow PIL Petitioners To Bypass Authorities, Says SC Bench
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: After warning that those filing frivolous PILs would be saddled with deterrent fines, the Supreme Court on Friday said even genuine PIL petitioners would have to first seek justice from the executive.
“No one, howsoever genuine their cause may be, should approach the courts with a PIL without even sending a notice to the authorities for redressal of the grievance,” said a bench comprising CJI S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar.
When counsel for NGO Ankush, which had sought implementation of road safety measures by the Andhra Pradesh government, said it had no personal interest and that it was acting in public interest, the CJI asked: “Where is your notice to the concerned authorities demanding justice in this issue?”
“A proper procedure has to be followed by the courts for entertaining PILs. There is no way that a petitioner, who comes straight to the court with a PIL, will be entertained,” said the CJI, speaking for the bench.
Addressing a long standing grievance of the executive that the judiciary has been encroaching into its turf, Justice Kapadia said: “The PIL petitioners have been moving the courts straightaway without even bringing the problem to the notice of the authorities. And the courts have been entertaining these PILs, virtually taking over the function of the authorities. We will not allow such bypassing of the authorities to take place any more.”
The new rules would drastically cut down the rate of filing of PILs in the court. For, while those filing frivolous ones would be scared of being saddled with heavy costs, which the CJI had said on Thursday would be utilized for improving infrastructure of the subordinate judiciary, even genuine PILs would not be entertained if the petitioners have not brought their problem to the notice of the concerned authorities for justice.
