Public Interest Litigation
PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION
Public interest litigation (PIL) defined as the use of litigation, or legal action, which seeks to advance the cause of minority or disadvantaged groups or individuals, or which raises issues of broad public concern. PIL represents a departure from traditional judicial proceedings, as litigation is not necessarily filed by the aggrieved person. Public interest litigation describes the legal implements which allow individuals, groups and communities to challenge government decisions and activities in a court of law for the enforcement of the public interest. And PIL also helped in protection and preservation of ecology, environment, forests, marine life, wildlife etc. etc. There are so many definitions for public interest litigation. One definition for PIL is, “ Something in which the public, the community at large, has some pecuniary interest, or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected. It does not mean anything so narrow as mere curiosity, or as the interests of the particular localities, which may be affected by the matters in question. Interest shared by citizens generally in affairs of local, state or national government....”
Earlier the aggrieved party person knock the doors for justice and seek remedy for grievance and the any other person who was not personally affected can’t take justice as a proxy for the victim or the aggrieved party. That means only the affected parties had the chance for locus standi to file a case and continue the litigation, but the non-affected persons didn’t had that chance. However, this has been changed when the post emergency supreme court set at rested the problem of access to justice by people through elementary changes and modifications made in the requirements of locus standi and of party aggrieved. The concept of the public interest has originated in the 1970 in the USA , as a strategic extension of the wider public interest law movement and
Public interest litigation (PIL) defined as the use of litigation, or legal action, which seeks to advance the cause of minority or disadvantaged groups or individuals, or which raises issues of broad public concern. PIL represents a departure from traditional judicial proceedings, as litigation is not necessarily filed by the aggrieved person. Public interest litigation describes the legal implements which allow individuals, groups and communities to challenge government decisions and activities in a court of law for the enforcement of the public interest. And PIL also helped in protection and preservation of ecology, environment, forests, marine life, wildlife etc. etc. There are so many definitions for public interest litigation. One definition for PIL is, “ Something in which the public, the community at large, has some pecuniary interest, or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected. It does not mean anything so narrow as mere curiosity, or as the interests of the particular localities, which may be affected by the matters in question. Interest shared by citizens generally in affairs of local, state or national government....”
Earlier the aggrieved party person knock the doors for justice and seek remedy for grievance and the any other person who was not personally affected can’t take justice as a proxy for the victim or the aggrieved party. That means only the affected parties had the chance for locus standi to file a case and continue the litigation, but the non-affected persons didn’t had that chance. However, this has been changed when the post emergency supreme court set at rested the problem of access to justice by people through elementary changes and modifications made in the requirements of locus standi and of party aggrieved. The concept of the public interest has originated in the 1970 in the USA , as a strategic extension of the wider public interest law movement and
References: 1. -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Public Interest Litigation has been defined in the Black 's Law Dictionary (6th Edition) [ 2 ]. Upendra Baxi, “Taking suffering seriously: Social Action Litigation in the Supreme Court of India.” The Review No.29, December 1987,at 37. [ 3 ]. AIR (1986) 2 SCC 176 SC [ 4 ]. SLR 2008 Vol 2, Page no.339 [ 5 ]. SLR 1990 Vol 2, Page no. 121