Justice V K Jain was speaking at the AECEN regional forum on “Public Participation in Environmental Compliance and Enforcement in Asia, Shangri-La Hotel, Beijing.

The Chief Justice said, “It is really the poor, starved and mindless millions who need the court’s protection for securing to themselves the enjoyment of Human Rights. The Constitution precedents cannot be permitted to be transformed into weapons for defeating the hopes and aspirations of our teaming millions, half-clad, half-starved, and half-educated.”

The Chief said even the public now knows that the Court has constitutional powers of intervention, which can be invoked to ameliorate their miseries arising from repression, lawlessness and administrative deviance. The socio-justice tool through which these aspirations of the constitution and people of India is achieved is known as “Public Interest Litigation” (PIL).

Making it clear that the jurisdiction of PIL covers a larger area, he said, “The expression “public interest” or “probity in governance” cannot be put in a straightjacket. Public interest takes into fold several factors. There cannot be any hard and fast rule to determine whether government action was taken in public interest or was taken to uphold probity in governance. The cardinal principle of governance in a civilised society based on rule of law not only has to based on transparency but also must create an impression that the decision-making was motivated on the consideration of probity.”

Expressing concern over the deteriorating environment, the Chief Justice said shortcomings in coping with the pressures on the environment had thrust the responsibility of environmental protection upon the judiciary. “This has meant that in India, the Judiciary in some instances had not only to exercise its role as an interpreter of the law but has also had to take upon itself the role of constant monitoring and implementation necessitated through a series of public interest litigations that have been initiated in various courts,” he stated.