New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday strongly criticised the growing misuse of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) and remarked that how they are increasingly being filed for private, money and political interest rather than genuine public causes.
The observation came from a nine-judge Constitution bench noting that what was once meant to serve the public good is now often turning into “private, publicity, paisa (money), and political interest litigation.
The nine-judge Constitution bench comprised Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices B V Nagarathna, M M Sundresh, Ahsanuddin Amanullah, Aravind Kumar, Augustine George Masih, Prasanna B Varale, R Mahadevan and Joymalya Bagchi, was hearing petitions regarding discrimination against women at religious sites, including the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
Justice Nagarathna noted that courts are seeing a rising number of PILs driven by personal or publicity-oriented interests instead of real issues affecting the public.
“One thing we want to say by way of a reaction, PIL, Public interest litigation has now become private interest litigation, publicity interest litigation, paisa interest litigation and political interest litigation. All are called PILs. But we entertain only real and genuine PILs,” Justice Nagarathna observed.
The bench also emphasised that PILs cannot be filed casually or merely on the basis of newspaper reports. They must be backed by genuine public interest and credible material.
Questioning the intent behind such petitions, the Court asked litigants to justify why they approached the court and what purpose their PIL actually serves, signalling stricter scrutiny going forward. The court also cautioned against converting every grievance into a PIL.