Public interest litigation (PIL) which was devised by the apex court in 1984, is a valuable mechanism to redress the problems of the neglected, alienated and marginalized sections of society whose fundamental rights are infringed and violated and whose grievances go unnoticed, unrepresented and unheard.

Who devised the PIL?

India had to wait till 1986 when the then chief justice P.N. Bhagwati introduced public interest litigation (PIL) to the Indian judicial system. The original idea was to give marginalised citizens access to justice, but by the mid-1990s PILs had transformed the legal landscape with a flurry of high-profile cases.

When did PIL start in India?

The seeds of the concept of public interest litigation were initially sown in India by Justice Krishna Iyer, in 1976 in Mumbai Kamagar Sabha vs. Abdul Thai.