NATIONAL SEMINAR ON NEW DIMENSIONS OF JUDICIAL ACTIVISM

Theme: Judicial Activisms and Public Interest Litigations in the Present Scenario
Changing Dimensions of Activist Role Played by Judiciary: A Comparative Study with
Reference to USA and India1
PIL is not a pill for every ill, the abbreviation of PIL is Public Interest Litigation & not
Private Interest Litigation, Paisa Income Litigation, Publicity Interest Litigation or Politics
Interest Litigation.
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Honble J. Arijit Pasayat2

In the past, judicial activism was used creatively to help the downtrodden people to reach the
doors of justice. Hence over the years, the concept of PIL and judicial activism has emerged in USA
but spread throughout the world. No doubt PIL has been an invaluable innovative judicial remedy.
But now in this 21st century the significance of PIL has been undermined by filing fictitious,
baseless, vague PIL which is to be prevented in the cost and interest of justice.
Earlier by the liberalization of the rule of locus standi by our Supreme Court, it has translated the
rhetoric of fundamental rights into living reality for at least some segments of our exploited and
downtrodden humanity. But now PIL has degenerated into Private Interest Litigation, Political
Interest Litigation, and above all, Publicity Interest Litigation. These 3 Ps are the perils of PIL. The
latest peril in the picturesque language of Justice Pasayat is Paise Interest Litigation. Regrettably,
PIL is being abused with increasing frequency. Now-a-days people are deliberately wasting the

valuable time of Supreme Court by filing PIL. In a judgment, the Honble Court said that it is not
like the bettle shop where anyone can reach and ask anything. As per the court, stringent action
should be taken against those who are trying to waste the time of the Court.
This paper specifically deals with the various aspects of PIL, misuse of PIL, consequences for
misuse of PIL and remedies and suggestions available for prevention of misuse of PIL. Also, this
paper discusses various landmark cases relating to PIL in various countries.
Keywords: Judicial Activism, PIL, Judicial Authoritarianism, Political, Publicity,
Landmark Cases etc.
1

Author, Rajesh Kumar Mishra (3rd Yr), Mohana Chatterjee (1st yr) and Anirudh Sujoria (1st Yr) of Hidayatullah

National Law University, Raipur.

2

Judge of the Supreme Court of India.