The Hindu : Court condemns misuse of PIL petitions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

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Court condemns misuse of PIL petitions

By Our Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH14. The Supreme Court has come down heavily on frivolous petitions being filed as Public Interest Litigations (PILs) for cheap publicity and said, "if such type of petitions are permitted to be entertained it will cause immense damage to the system itself.

Observing, "a time has come to weed out such petitions", a Bench comprising Justice Doraiswamy Raju and Justice Arijit Pasayat imposed Rs. 10,000 as costs on one such litigant.

The Bench expressed concern that courts were strangely entertaining such petitions by ignoring clear guidelines laid down by the apex court in this regard. "Though the parameters of PIL have been indicated by this court in a large number of cases, yet unmindful of the real intentions and objectives, courts at times are entertaining such petitions and wasting valuable judicial time," it said.

The Bench said "it is shocking to note that courts are flooded with a large number of so-called PILs, whereas only a miniscule percentage can legitimately be called PILs". It noted that "self-styled saviours who have no face or ground in the midst of the public at large, of late, try such litigations to keep themselves busy and their names in circulation, despite having really become defunct in actual public life and try to smear and smirch the solemnity of court proceedings. They must really inspire confidence in courts and among the public, failing which such litigation should be axed with a heavy hand and dire consequences".

Cautioning the High Courts on the misuse of the PIL, the Bench said "PIL is a weapon which has to be used with great care and circumspection and the judiciary has to be extremely careful to see that behind the beautiful veil of public interest an ugly private malice, vested interest and/or publicity seeking is not lurking".

The Bench made it clear that a PIL should be aimed at redressal of genuine public wrong or public injury and not publicity oriented or founded on personal vendetta. It observed that it should not be allowed to become "publicity interest litigation or private interest litigation or politics interest litigation or, the latest trend, praise income litigation. The laudable concept of PIL was for extending the long arm of sympathy to the poor, ignorant and oppressed", the Bench said and added the "brand name" should not be allowed to be used by imposters and meddlesome interlopers impersonating as public-spirited holy men.

It passed the order while dismissing a PIL by Dr. B Singh who questioned the propriety of a person appointed as a Judge. Dr. Singh, who did not have any personal knowledge of the allegations made against the judge by Ram Swarup, had earlier unsuccessfully moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Observing that the petitioner had moved the court for publicity and there was no trace of public interest, the Bench said he deserved a fine of Rs. 50,000. It, however, imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 in the hope that he would mend his ways.

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