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3 - The Recent Evolution of Public Interest Litigation in the Indian Supreme Court

from Part I - The Supreme Court of India – An Institutional Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2019

By
Poorvi Chitalkar  and
Varun Gauri
Edited by
Gerald N. Rosenberg ,
Sudhir Krishnaswamy  and
Shishir Bail
Gerald N. Rosenberg
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Sudhir Krishnaswamy
Affiliation:
Azim Premji University, Bangalore
Shishir Bail
Affiliation:
Azim Premji University, Bangalore
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Summary

Following a period of great enthusiasm about the role of public interest litigation (PIL) as a tool for social change in India, there is now skepticism. It is often argued that the stated objective of PILs in the 1980s, to defend the interests of a disadvantaged and marginalized population, has now been lost. Is the skepticism justified? This chapter provides an empirical analysis of beneficiary inequality in the Indian Supreme Court between 2009 and 2014. Based on an analysis of public interest cases at the Supreme Court, the chapter seeks to characterize who uses public interest litigation in India, who wins and who loses, and the policy areas that occupy the Court's PIL docket. In doing so, it discusses broader patterns in the use of public interest litigation in India.

Keywords

public interest litigationPILIndiaSupreme Courtbeneficiary inequalityPIL use
Type
Chapter
Information
A Qualified Hope
The Indian Supreme Court and Progressive Social Change
 , pp. 77 - 91
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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References

Brinks, D. M. and Gauri, V. (2014), “The Law’s Majestic Equality? The Distributive Impact of Judicializing Social and Economic Rights.” Perspectives on Politics, 12(2), 375–393.Google Scholar
Chitalkar, P. and Gauri, V. (2016), “India – Compliance with Orders on the Right to Food” in Langford, M., Garavito, C. R., and Rossi, J. (eds.), Making It Stick: Social Rights Judgments and the Politics of Compliance (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), 288–314.Google Scholar
Edwards, S. and Marin, A. G. (2015), “Constitutional Rights and Education: An International Comparative Study.” Journal of Comparative Economics, 43(4), 938–955.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gauri, V. (2011), “Fundamental Rights and Public Interest Litigation in India: Overreaching or Underachieving?.” Indian Journal of Law and Economics, 1(1), 71–93.Google Scholar
Thiruvengadam, A. K. (2009), “Evaluating Contemporary Criticisms of ‘Public Interest Litigation’: A Progressive Conception of the Role of the Judge,” Paper presented at the 2009 Lassnet Conference, New Delhi, India.Google Scholar

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