Revision summary
PIL relaxed standing so that bona fide third parties could move constitutional courts. Hussainara Khatoon, Bandhua Mukti Morcha, Olga Tellis, and Vishaka are standard examples. Articles 32 and 226, including letter petitions, carried marginalized claims into court. Misuse, delay, and judicial administration are the critical costs. PIL aids social justice; it cannot replace statute and the executive on the ground.
Model answer
Introduction
Public Interest Litigation relaxed locus standi so that a person acting bona fide could move the Supreme Court or a High Court for those who could not. It became a tool of social justice, and analysis must also name misuse and judicial overreach.
Body
How PIL opened the court
- Hussainara Khatoon and related undertrial cases showed that letters and third-party petitions could unlock Article 21 for prisoners who would never retain a senior advocate.
- S.P. Gupta and later cases treated a public-spirited petitioner as enough, provided the petition was not a private quarrel in disguise.
- Articles 32 and 226, with epistolary jurisdiction, made the court a forum for bonded labour, pavement dwellers, and undertrials.
Social justice and marginalized rights
- Bandhua Mukti Morcha used PIL to push the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act from paper into field directions.
- Olga Tellis protected pavement dwellers’ livelihood as part of Article 21, which is housing and work for the urban poor, not a luxury right.
- Vishaka laid down workplace sexual-harassment guidelines when statute was silent, which served women workers until the 2013 Act.
- MC Mehta environmental PILs, the right to food litigation, and forest-rights monitoring show how groups without market power reached the court.
Critical limits
- Frivolous and publicity PILs waste time and can stall projects without helping the poor; the Court has fined and discouraged such petitions.
- Continuing mandamus can look like administration from the Bench, which critics call a strain on separation of powers.
- Implementation still needs collectors, police, and budgets; a judgment does not by itself feed or free a person.
Balance
- PIL remains an important tool because marginalized communities often cannot buy adversarial litigation.
- It is a tool, not a substitute for legislation, panchayats, and welfare departments.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD LS[Relaxed locus standi] --> PIL[Public Interest Litigation] PIL --> A21[Article 21 groups] A21 --> SJ[Social justice directions] M[Misuse] --> D[Delay and overreach]
Conclusion
PIL advanced social justice by opening Articles 32 and 226 to bonded labour, undertrials, women workers, and the urban poor. The same tool fails when it becomes private interest, delay, or a second government, so discipline of standing and of remedies is part of the analysis.
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Can any stranger file a PIL for any cause?
No. The petitioner must act bona fide. The Court rejects private disputes dressed as public interest and may impose costs.
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Did Vishaka create a permanent substitute for Parliament?
No. It filled a gap until the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013. That is the proper sequence.
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