GUIDELINES FOR ENTERTAINING LETTERS/PETITIONS AS PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION

The full Court of the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 1.12.1988 issued guidelines to be followed for entertaining letters/petitions received in the Court as public interest litigation. The full Court decided that the petitions falling under the following categories alone would ordinarily be entertained as public interest litigation:

1. bonded labour matters;
2. neglected children;
3. non-payment of minimum wages to workers and exploitation of casual workers and complaints of violation of labour laws (except in individual cases);
4. petitions from jails complaining of harassment, for pre-mature release and seeking release after having completed 14 years in jail, death in jail, transfer, release on personal bond, speedy trial as fundamental right;
5. petitions against police for refusing to register a case, harassment by police and death in police custody;
6. petitions against atrocities on women, in particular harassment of bride, bride-burning, rape, murder, kidnapping, etc.;
7. petitions complaining of harassment or torture of villagers by co-villagers or by police of persons belonging to Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes and economically backward classes;
8. petitions pertaining to environmental pollution, disturbance of ecological balance, drugs, food adulteration, maintenance of heritage and culture, antiques, forest and wildlife and other matters of public importance;
9. petitions from riot-victims; and,
10. family pension.

All letter-petitions received in the PIL Cell (Public Interest Litigation Cell) in the Supreme Court would first be screened in the Cell and only such petitions as are covered by the above mentioned categories would be placed before a Judge to be nominated by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India for directions after which the case would be listed before the bench concerned. To begin with, only one Hon’ble Judge might be assigned this work and the number increased to two or three later depending on the workload.

It was also decided that the cases falling under the following categories would not be entertained as public interest litigation and these might be returned to the petitioners or filed in the PIL Cell, as the case might be:

1. landlord tenant matters;
2. service matter and those pertaining to pension and gratuity;
3. compliant against Central/State Government Departments and Local Bodies except those relating to item Nos. (1) to (10) above;
4. admission to medical and other educational institutions; and
5. petitions for early hearing of cases pending in High Courts and Subordinates Courts.

In regard to the Petitions concerning maintenance of wife, children and parents, the petitioner might be asked to file a Petition under sec.125 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 or a Suit in the Court of competent jurisdiction and for that purpose to approach the nearest Legal Aid Committee for legal aid and advice.