-By Aditi Patel
In a significant event today, Supreme Court Justice BV Nagarathna speaks on the increasing misuse of Public Interest Litigations (PILs) during the book launch of “Law, Justice and Society:Selected Works of Upendra Baxi” on March 4, 2025.
She highlighted a call for a new fair frameork to access PILs highlighting as much as they have played an important role in holding a government accountable and advancing social justice, they are now increasingly being misused for personal and frivolous reasons
Justice Nagarathna said. “PILs have helped in making the government answerable and bringing social justice, but now, some people are using them for personal reasons and wrong purposes. As Professor Upendra Baxi, a famous law expert, for his big contributions in legal studies. “Professor Baxi’s work tells us that the Constitution is not just about rules, but also about real struggles of people for justice,”
She highglights the work of Professor Baxi’s in legal activism stressing that the dialectics of law needs a deep understanding of the complexities and nuances of human society. She focuses on the hermeneutics of constitutional interpretation as a curicial aspect to ensure the law is applied fairly and justly.
Justice Nagarathna’s comment comes at a time when concerns about the PILs concern is increasing and more individuals are coming forward saying that it is being used in a wrong way. Lately, it is observed that certain PILs were filed on personal dispute rather than for geniune public cause. The Legal system is established to foster the common good and protect the rights of all the citizens.
Justice DY Chandrachud, earlier having observed that the PILs are increasingly been used as a tool to fight personal disputes.
The Law Commission of India has discussed the issue and indicated some ways to stop individual from using PILs in a wrong way. Supreme court has again and again warned against the misuse of PILs in india emphasizing as they should not be used as a tool for harassment or to gain public or personal benefits
Additionaly, Courts ought to function in a manner that is accountabl and answerable to citizens as noted in a case where a PIL was misused for making a demand to stop Vande Bharat Train just as it went past the residence of petitioner.
The abuse of PILs may be in form of personal vendettas, political or economic benefits , and baseless legal battles. The result of such misuse leads to the loss of public trust, wastage of judicial resources, and a chilling effect on free speech and public discourse.
To avoid such exploitation, reforms must be made and PILs need to be scrutinize more intensely by courts to accertain whether they really serve public interest or just a political or personal agenda.
