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PIL once filed & heard, cannot be withdrawn: SC

Supreme Court  said , a Public Interest Litigation PIL, once filed & heard, cannot be withdrawn.

The observation came during a hearing on a lawyer’s plea that he was getting threats for filing a PIL seeking entry of girls and women in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple.

The court  noted this when Naushad Ahmed Khan, President of Indian Young Lawyers’ Association, which has filed the PIL on Sabarimala issue, sought urgent hearing of the matter.

He said he has received 500 threatening phone calls in recent times and asked to take back the PIL. 

What is Public Interest Litigation (PIL)?

  • Public-Interest Litigation is litigation for the protection of the public interest.

  • In Indian law, Article 32 of the Indian constitution contains a tool which directly joins the public with judiciary.

Article 32:

The Supreme Court shall have power to issue directions or orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari, whichever may be appropriate, for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by this Part.

  • A PIL may be introduced in a court of law by the court itself (suo motu), rather than the aggrieved party or another third party.

  • For the exercise of the court’s jurisdiction, it is not necessary for the victim of the violation of his or her rights to personally approach the court.

  • In a PIL, the right to file suit is given to a member of the public by the courts through judicial activism.

  • The member of the public may be a non-governmental organization (NGO), an institution or an individual.

  • It was in the case of SP Gupta vs Union of India that the Supreme Court of India defined the term Public Interest Litigation in the Indian Context.

  • The 38th Chief Justice of India, S. H. Kapadia, has stated that substantial fines would be imposed on litigants filing frivolous PILs.

  • PIL has been successful in making official authorities accountable to NGOs.

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