To arrest the flood of publicity oriented public interest litigations (PILs), the Delhi High Court has taken a cautious aproach before issuing notice to concerned executive arrayed as parties in the cases.
The division bench comprising Chief Justice M Jagannadha Rao and Justice Manmohan Sarin, which handles most of the PILs that are filed before the High Court, first ascertain the bonafide and genuineness of the public interest litigants in each case.
If it was an employees' union filing a PIL, the bench invariably asks about the pending demands of the union before the management and details of the agreement signed between them.
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We don't want the PILs be used as pressure tactics to get the management agree to the demands of the union, the bench had observed.The bench had recently dismissed couple of PILs, including the one against former chairperson of New Okhala Industrial Development Authority (Noida), Neera Yadav.
In the PIL against Yadav filed by Jana Shakti, the bench asked the petitioner to approach the CBI for registration of a case against her on the ground of misutilisation of administrative power and amassing of wealth. It said if after a lapse of reasonable time the CBI failed to take any initiative in the case, the petitioner was free to raise the matter again. Meanwhile in Chandigarh, retired Supreme Court udge Kuldip Singh yesterday said the public interest litigation was an important weapon in the hands of the judiciary to expose corrupt people involved in various scams.
Deploring the government's moves to curb PIL, he appealed to the people to save it.
Please save it, save it, he told a gathering, including judges and lawyers, at a function organised by the Intellectual Association here.
Judiciary takes notice of PIL as part of the court's power to judicial review enshrined in the Constitution, justice Kuldip Singh said.
He said former Chief Justice of India P N Bhagwati was the architect of PIL which just could not be wished away by politicians.
It is pinching those who are intoxicated with power, the green judge said, adding the judiciary which is watch dog of the constitution could not sit with folded hands, oblivious of unscrupulous happenings in the country.
There is no judicial activism. It is only liberalisation that has come in the judiciary so far as PIL is concerned, he said.
To ensure independence of judiciary, he demanded transperancy in appointment and transfer of judges.
He said the problem with the politicians began when judiciary started monitoring the progress of investigations into various scams.