“Public Interest Litigation: Judicial Trends in India”

Abstract

The concept of Public Interest Litigation is one of the most important innovations in the Indian judicial process. It emerged in the late seventies of 21^st century in response to the urgent need to make judicial process more accessible to poor, downtrodden, socially and economically disadvantaged sections of the society.  It brought justice to the doorstep of the poorest sections of the society. It was primarily the judges of the apex court who innovated the concept of public interest litigation through judicial activism. During this period, the doctrine of judicial review has assumed a new aspect which is popularly known as judicial activism. The old orthodox and mechanistic theory that a judge never creates law and only declares law has been replaced by the concept of judicial activism. Thus, the judicial activism opened up new dimension and vistas for judicial process and has given a new hope to the justice – starved millions. The paper examines the concept of Public Interest Litigation and its scope and role of judiciary in expanding the horizons of the concept.