Public Interest Litigation in India: A Tool for Disadvantaged or Power of Elites

Human Rights violations during the Emergency period in the 1970s led to state repression, governmental lawlessness, administrative deviance, and exploitation of disadvantaged groups, and denial to them of their rights and entitlements. PIL was incorporated under Article 32 as a tool in the hands of the poor to secure their fundamental rights. Supreme Court was vested with enormous power and discretion to proceed in the cases of PIL to ensure substantial justice to the poor and disadvantaged without any hindrance caused due to procedural requirements. After 1990, liberation policies were adopted which led to social and economic development in our country. This paper will analyze how Supreme Court started encroaching upon the legislative functions under Article 253 by expanding its scope to incorporate international treaties in its judgment. Supreme Court has also expanded its scope to socioeconomic and environmental problems which was not the aim of PIL initially. There are several cases for poor and disadvantaged is pending before the court with inordinate delay but Supreme Court is politically influenced and motivated by the outcome which is intended to be achieved. PIL mechanism has been used by the judiciary as a tool to form judicial activism to deal with cases beyond their scope in the name of justice to the vulnerable group of society. We can observe the conflict between the legislature and judiciary throughout the judicial trend which indicates how the court has been trying to justify its acts in the name of legitimacy and justice.