INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - APRIL 1st - APRIL 15th - 2008
JUDICIARY CANNOT SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS THROUGH PIL, SAY SUPREME COURT
The Supreme Court, while dismissing a petition on road safety measures,has ruled that the judiciary cannot solve all the problems of the people through PIL.
In a separate judgement, Justice Markandey Katju said,"the view that the judiciary can run the government and can solve all the problems of the people is not only unconstitutional, but also fallacious and creates a false impression that the judiciary is a panacea for ills in the society. Such illusions in fact, do harm to the people because it makes them believe that their problems can be solved by others and not by themselves." "It debilitates their will and makes them believe that they can solve their problems and improve their conditions not by their own struggles but by filing a PIL in court," he added.
Senior Judge on the bench H K Sema dissociated himself from the general observation made by Justice Katju in paragraphs 36 to 39, 43 to 53 and 55 in his judgement expressing doubts about the jurisdiction of the court entertaining the petition in the form of PIL.
Justice Sema also expressed his disagreement with certain observations made by a two-judge bench in case of the Divisional Manager Aravali Golf course versus Chanderhass, which was referred to by Justice Katju in his 35 page judgement.
Justice Katju has time and again expressed his views that Judges should not try to make laws through their judgements and lawmaking is in the exclusive domain of the legislature and its implimentation is the job of the executives.
In today's judgement Justice Katju, however, made it clear that he is not opposed to legitimate Judicial Activism in the form of PIL but is opposed only to illegitimate Judicial Activism and also made it clear that PIL is a tool concieved and created by courts for helping the poor, weaker and oppressed sections on the society who could not approach the court due to their poverty.
But, recently it has become a tool in the hands of unscruplous elements, Justice Katju added.
The two-judge bench dismissed the petitions filed by the Common Cause, an NGO seeking directions to the government to set up road safety committees in order to minimise the increasing road accidents in the country.
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