Personal pursuit of justice has wider implications at times. More so when securing any of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution.

The Constitution guarantees and secures to the people of India, justice, freedom of thought, expression, belief, faith, worship, vocation, association and action subject to law and public morality. If the rights are denied by omission or commission by the State, the affected person can ensure their enforcement by seeking judicial intervention under Article 32 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court and High Courts admit Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed not only by the affected persons, but also by voluntary action groups representing the weaker sections of society. But PILs can be filed only for public benefit, not for personal gain.

PILs may be filed as writ petitions for upholding fundamental, civil or legal rights, and for claiming compensation for tortuous and negligent acts. In some cases, PILs may also be filed as a criminal complaint under the Criminal Procedure Code, if the offence is punishable.

Usually, the procedure is to lodge all criminal complaints with the local police. An authorised police officer conducts investigations as per the procedure laid down in the Criminal Procedure Code to confirm the offence. And the report is submitted to the magistrate.

But as a criminal complaint, a PIL may be filed directly before the local magistrate for offences affecting public service and public health under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981; the Environment Protection Act, 1986; the Factories (Amendment) Act, 1987; the Public Liabilities Insurance Act, 1991; the Environment (Protection) Second Amendment Rules, 1992; the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, and the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969, among others.

Whether a PIL is filed as a writ petition or a criminal complaint, the petitioner needs to do his groundwork thoroughly. All the relevant information and data from the area must be collected and collated. One may refer to newspapers, books, research papers and official data. Keeping in mind its research base, the information and data should be analysed and inferences drawn with the help of competent people like experts, academics, lawyers and the concerned people.

The status report may be circulated to the other interested groups for feedback. After vetting the feedback, the petitioners, co-petitioners, lawyers and the affected people should decide on the course of action. The relief, too, needs to be worked out, and suitable courts identified for filing PILs. Simultaneously, letters to newspapers may be generated to build up public opinion on the issue. This may be reinforced by staging gheraos and processions.

Though before approaching a Court, a notice may be sent to the other party to give it a chance to do undo the wrong.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.