Public Interest Litigation

Public Interest Litigation means a legal action initiated in a court of law for the enforcement of public interest or general interest in which the public or class of the community have pecuniary interest or some interest by which their legal rights or liabilities are affected."Public Interest Litigation's explicit purpose is to alienate the suffering off all those who have borne the burnt of insensitive treatment at the hands of fellow human being. Transparency in public life & fair judicial action are the right answer to check increasing menace of violation of legal rights. Traditional rule was that the right to move the Supreme Court is only available to those whose fundamental rights are infringed. 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. 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. The Supreme Court of India, rejecting the criticism of judicial activism, has stated that the judiciary has stepped in to give direction because due to executive inaction, the laws enacted by Parliament and the state legislatures for the poor since independence have not been properly implemented.Subodh Markandeya well known Senior Advocate of Supreme court of India and Judicial activist believes that public interest litigation is the principal legal remedy For a common man and it is main weapon of judicial activist .

“Public interest Litigation“, in simple words, means, litigation filed in a court of law, for the protection of “Public Interest”, such as Pollution, Terrorism, Road safety, Constructional hazards etc. Any matter where the interest of public at large is affected can be redressed by filing a Public Interest Litigation in a court of law.PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION is not defined in any statute or in any act. It has been interpreted by judges to consider the intent of public at large. Although, the main and only focus of such litigation is “Public Interest” there are various areas where a PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION can be filed.WHO CAN FILE A PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATIONIn normal cases, it is seen that the aggrieved party i.e. the victim, who is affected has to file his case in a court of law. That person should have an interest in the dispute. But in filing of Public Interest Litigation there is no such condition. Any person can file a Public Interest Litigation. The only condition being that the same has to be filed n Public Interest. Public Interest Litigation is litigation introduced in a court of law, not by the aggrieved party but by the court itself or by any other private party. It is not necessary, for the exercise of the court’s jurisdiction, that the person who is the victim of the violation of his or her right should personally

approach the court. Public Interest Litigation is the power given to the public by courts to protect interest of public at large.

Such cases may occur when the victim does not have the necessary resources to commence litigation or his freedom to move court has been suppressed or encroached upon. The court can itself take cognizance of the matter and precede suo motu or cases can commence on the petition of any public-spirited individual.

ORIGIN OF PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION ( PIL)The term “PIL” originated in the United States in the mid-1980s. Since the nineteenth century, various movements in that country had contributed to public interest law, which was part of the legal aid movement. The first legal aid office was established in New York in 1876. In the 1960s the PIL movement began to receive financial support from the office of Economic Opportunity, This encouraged lawyers and public spirited persons to take up cases of the under-privileged and fight against dangers to environment and public health and exploitation of consumers and the weaker sections.

 HISTORY OF PIL IN INDIAPIL had begun in India towards the end of 1970s and came into full bloom in the 80s. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer and Justice PM. Bhagwati, honourable Judges of the Supreme Court of India delievred landmark judgements which opened up new vistas in PIL.

OBJECTIVES OF PILAccording to Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, PIL is a process, of obtaining justice for the people, of voicing people’s grievances through the legal process. The aim of PIL is to give to the common people of this country access to the courts to obtain legal redress.

Public Interest Litigation popularly known as PIL can be broadly defined as litigation in the interest of that nebulous entity: the public in general. Prior to 1980s, only the aggrieved party could personally knock the doors of justice and seek remedy for his grievance and any other person who was not personally affected could not knock the doors of justice as a proxy for the victim or the aggrieved party. In other words, only the affected parties had the locus standi (standing required in law) to file a case and continue the litigation and the non affected persons had no locus standi to do so. And as a result, there was hardly any link between the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Indian Union and the laws made by the legislature on the one hand and the vast majority of illiterate citizens on the other.

However, all these scenario gradually changed when the post emergency Supreme Court tackled the problem of access to justice by people through radical changes and alterations made in the requirements of locus standi and of party aggrieved. The splendid efforts of Justice P N Bhagwati and

Justice V R Krishna Iyer were instrumental of this juristic revolution of eighties to convert the apex court of India into a Supreme Court for all Indians. And as a result any citizen of India or any consumer groups or social action groups can approach the apex court of the country seeking legal remedies in all cases where the interests of general public or a section of public are at stake. Further, public interest cases could be filed without investment of heavy court fees as required in private civil litigation.

PIL- A Boon:1. In Public Interest Litigation (PIL) vigilant citizens of the country can find an inexpensive legal remedy because there is only a nominal fixed court fee involved in this.

2. Further, through the so-called PIL, the litigants can focus attention on and achieve results pertaining to larger public issues, especially in the fields of human rights, consumer welfare and environment.

Consumer Protection Act, 1986Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted in 1986 to protect the interests of consumers in India. It makes provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumers' disputes and for matters connected therewith.

THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986

            Though consumer is the purpose and most powerful motivating force of production, yet at the same time consumer is equally vulnerable segment of the whole marketing system. Attempts have been made to guard the interest of the consumer in a sporadic way till 1986, when Government of India enacted a comprehensive legislation-Consumer Protection Act, to safe guard the interest of the consumer then ever before. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986, applies to all goods and services, excluding goods for resale or for commercial purpose and services rendered free of charge and under a contract for personal service. The provisions of the Act are compensatory in nature. It covers public, private, joint and cooperative sectors.

          The Act enshrines the rights of the consumer such as right to safety, right to be informed, right to be heard, and right to choose, right to seek redressal and right to consumer education.

  Consumer: A consumer is any person who buys any goods for a consideration and user of such goods where the use is with the approval of buyer, any person who hires/avails of any service for a consideration and any beneficiary of such

services, where such services are availed of with the approval of the person hiring the service.  The consumer need not have made full payment.

Goods :   Goods mean any movable property and also include shares, but do not include any auctionable claims.

Service :   Service of any description such as banking, insurance, transport, processing, housing construction, supply of electrical energy, entertainment, board or lodging.

Nature of complaint:

a)      Any unfair trade practice or restrictive trade practice adopted ;by the trader

      b) Defective goods

b)      Deficiency in service

c)      Excess price charged ;by the trader

     d)  Unlawful goods sale, which is hazardous to life and safety when used

Consumer Courts:  A three-tier-system

a)      National Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission: claims above Rs. 20 lakh

(a)   Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission or State Commission: Claims from Rs 5 to 20 lakh.

(a)    Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum or District Forum: Claims upto Rs 5 Lakh

Complaint: A complaint, hand written or typed, can be filed by a consumer, a registered consumer organisation, central or state Government and one or more consumers, where there are numerous consumers having the same interest.No stamp or court fee is needed. The nature of complaint must be clearly mentioned as well as the relief sought by the consumer. It must be in quadruplicate in district forum or state commission. Else, additional copies are required to be filed.

Grant of relief:

(a)    Repair of defective goods

(b)   Replacement of defective goods

(c)    Refund of the price paid  for the defective goods or service

(d)   Removal of deficiency in service

(e)    Refund of extra money charged

(f)     Withdrawal of  goods hazardous to life and safety

(g)    Compensation for the loss or injury suffered by the consumer due to negligence of the opposite party

(h)    Adequate cost of filing and pursuing the complaint

   Normally, complaints should be decided within 90 days from the date of notice issued to the opposite party. Where a sample of any goods is required to be tested, a complaint is required to be disposed of within 150 days; it may take more time due to practical problems.

Consumer Protection Councils:   Councils have been setup in all states and at the center to promote and protect the rights and interest of consumers. These councils are advisory in nature and can play important role in recommending consumer oriented policies to the state and central Government.

Consumer ombudsman If you've made a complaint to a company about goods or services but you're not happy with the outcome, you may be able to ask an ombudsman to deal with it. An ombudsman is an independent official appointed to make decisions in disputes between individuals and companies.

Using the ombudsman is free for consumers but traders have to pay.

When can you take a complaint to the ombudsman?Before you can use an ombudsman service you must go through the trader's formal complaints process and get a letter of deadlock confirming you've been unable to sort out the problem. You don't need a letter of deadlock if it’s been longer than eight weeks since you made your complaint to the trader and you and the trader still can’t agree.

How do you make your complaint to the ombudsman?You send written evidence to the ombudsman who looks at it and then makes a recommendation or ruling. Each ombudsman scheme has its own rules for how to complain. Contact the ombudsman that covers your problem for details of how their scheme works.

What will the ombudsman do with your complaint?The ombudsman will look at your complaint and decide what the outcome should be.

They're independent and impartial which means they don’t take sides.

The ombudsman looks at the evidence sent in by both sides and decides what should happen. You don't have to meet the ombudsman so you can avoid the stress of presenting your evidence face to face. But it does mean that you need to be able to write down what’s happened clearly.

What will the outcome be?The ombudsman can make decisions that you wouldn't necessarily get if you went to court. For example, if you’ve lost money because of something the company’s done, for example, they've given you bad advice or there's been poor administration, they can order the trader to award you compensation or to ask the trader to apologise to you. Depending on which ombudsman scheme you use, the ombudsman's decision may be legally binding - check with the ombudsman you are dealing with.

What if you're not happy with the ombudsman's decision?You can still take court action if you're not happy with the decision but the court will take the ombudsman's decision into account when they make a decision.