. Supreme Court and PIL
A two member Bench of Supreme Court had some time back expressed the view that the tendency of courts including Supreme Court to entertain all types of PIL is not the right thing to do. The Bench felt that since the Constitution had earmarked the roles of
Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, it is not proper for Judiciary to encroach on the areas earmarked for the other two wings. The court went on to say that despite clear cut judgement of the Supreme Court in some of the PIL cases, the subsequent actions of Government had not remedied the situation ( clearning up Jamuna river ). The Bench was of the view that Supreme Court and to some extent High Courts should show discretion in taking up PILs. On the other hand very recently a three member Bench of Supreme Court, with Chief Justice presiding, has expressed the view that Supreme Court ( and hence implicitely High Courts ) also should entertain PIL applications.
Apart from the contradiction involved in the stands taken by the two Benches, there are other related areas which need consideration. The area of operation of the three wings of Government is clear. Yet when it comes to the precise space of each wing, there is bound to be vagueness because it is not possible to define precisely the powers or areas of operation of the three wings of Government. Opinions would differ. From this perspective PIL could lead to clear cut enunciation of the boundaries.
People are on the whole fed up with the way bureaucracy and legislatures are functioning, often without direction. Then how could matters affecting the country to be sorted out. Go to courts. On the face of it this line of argument appears to be on the right direction.
But then there are the other aspects. As time goes by the number of PILs filed in courts has been on the increase. Unless this is somewhat resricted, increasingly the time of the High courts and Supreme Court would have to be earmarked for dealing with PILs,

rather than other weighty issues. Then again many would question whether it is for the Supreme Court to get involved in matters such as demolition of unauthorised construction of houses or cleaning of Yamuna. But the real danger in courts pursuing ‘welcome path ‘ for PIL is in alianation of legislature and executive from the judicial system. This path of the judiciary may result in legislature and executive starting to take confrontation mode with judiciary. And that is not good. It should be noted that the combined force of legislature and executive is quite strong and these two could try to put shackles on judiciary, and they may succeed. Give the matter to a clever and astute bureaucrat and he will come up with suggestions ( sweetly coated ) to curtail the powers of the judiciary. That is not in the interest of the country