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UPSC GS-II · 10 marks · 150 words

Examine the significance of Public Interest Litigation in India.

भारत में जनहित याचिका के महत्व का परीक्षण कीजिए।

What “Examine” demands

investigate the issue closely — how it arose, how it works, what it achieves and where it falls short — looking at both sides.

The characteristic failure: description of what the thing is, with no probing of how well it works.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • Defines PIL as judicially crafted relaxation of locus standi under Articles 32 and 226; not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution
  • Origins in late 1970s-80s through Justices P.N. Bhagwati and V.R. Krishna Iyer; Hussainara Khatoon v State of Bihar (1979) on undertrial prisoners as the first reported PIL, reading speedy trial into Article 21
  • S.P. Gupta v Union of India (1981), the Judges Transfer case, formally relaxing locus standi to allow any public-spirited person to move the court
  • Epistolary jurisdiction — letters and postcards treated as writ petitions (e.g. Sunil Batra v Delhi Administration, 1978-80)
  • Access to justice for those disabled by poverty, ignorance or custody — Bandhua Mukti Morcha v Union of India (1984) on bonded labour
  • Expansion of Article 21: Olga Tellis v BMC (1985) right to livelihood; Subhash Kumar v State of Bihar (1991) right to wholesome environment; PUCL v Union of India (2001) right to food leading to mid-day meal and PDS directions

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