Public Interest Litigation

PIL Full Form in English, letter by letter

PIL stands for Public Interest Litigation, a case filed in court on behalf of the public, in India usually under Article 32 or Article 226.

PIL Full Form in Indian Languages

PIL is the tool behind many Indian court orders on rivers, prisons and pollution: Public Interest Litigation. Its name is shown below in six Indian languages.

How PIL changed who can approach the court

Normally only a person directly affected by a wrong can file a case, a requirement lawyers call locus standi. Public Interest Litigation relaxed that rule in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when judges such as Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer accepted petitions filed on behalf of people who could not come to court themselves. The judgment in S.P. Gupta v. Union of India (1981) set out the wider rule on who may sue in the public interest.

The case often named as the start of the movement is Hussainara Khatoon v. State of Bihar (1979), in which the Supreme Court ordered the release of undertrial prisoners who had spent longer in jail than the maximum sentence for their alleged offence.

The constitutional basis: Articles 32 and 226

The words 'public interest litigation' do not appear in the Constitution. PIL works through Article 32, which lets a person approach the Supreme Court to enforce fundamental rights, and Article 226, which gives High Courts wider writ powers. A PIL is therefore filed as a writ petition under one of these articles.

Court fees are small and procedure is simpler than in an ordinary suit. In some cases the court has treated a letter or a postcard as a petition, and it can also act on its own, which is called suo motu action, when it notices a public wrong from a news report.

Landmark PILs that changed everyday Indian life

Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997) produced the first binding guidelines against sexual harassment at the workplace, framed because Parliament had not yet made a law. Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation (1985) held that the right to livelihood is part of the right to life and protected pavement dwellers from eviction without a fair process.

M.C. Mehta's petitions led to orders on polluting tanneries along the Ganga and on protecting the Taj Mahal, including the Taj Trapezium Zone order of 1996. In Parmanand Katara (1989) the Supreme Court said that doctors must give urgent treatment to accident victims without waiting for legal formalities. The right-to-food case brought by the People's Union for Civil Liberties led to orders that existing food schemes must reach the hungry.

Where PIL draws criticism

PIL has opened the courts to questions of the environment, prison conditions and the rights of workers and children. It remains a quick way for a citizen to press the state to act.

It is also misused. Courts have repeatedly warned about petitions filed to settle private scores, to pressure a rival or to gain publicity, and they have imposed costs on such petitioners. In State of Uttaranchal v. Balwant Singh Chaufal (2010) the Supreme Court laid down guidelines to check that a petition is genuine and in the public interest.

Filing a PIL: what a petitioner should know

A PIL must raise a matter that affects the public, not a personal dispute. It is filed in the Supreme Court under Article 32 or in a High Court under Article 226, stating the facts, the supporting material and the exact relief sought. A petitioner should be ready to show who they are and that they have no private interest in the matter.

Hearings can take months or years, and the court may appoint a committee to watch compliance for a long time. The Ganga cleanup petition has been heard in this way over decades. The relief is usually a direction to the government, not damages to a person.

Courts have also said that the petitioner should disclose any criminal record or interest in the case, and that a petition should be backed by reasonable research. A petition built only on newspaper clippings is likely to be questioned.

PIL, RTI and other ways to hold authorities to account

A PIL is not the only route. A citizen who wants facts from a public office can first use the RTI Act, and a complaint to a regulator or a human rights commission may be quicker. Many PILs rely on information first obtained through RTI replies.

Many PILs are filed by an NGO or a lawyer. A person who wants to file one should read the court's rules on petitions, and consider asking a lawyer or a legal aid cell to look at the draft.

Remember that a PIL cannot be used to get a personal job, a personal refund or settlement of a family dispute. Those go to the ordinary courts or tribunals.

A Public Interest Litigation lets a citizen speak for people who cannot reach the court. Used honestly, PIL has cleaned rivers, freed prisoners and protected workers. Used carelessly, it wastes court time, which is why judges look closely at who is filing and why.

PIL Full Form: Common Questions