Need to regulate public interest litigations: Government

NEW DELHI: Urging the judiciary to have some kind of regulation on frivolous public interest litigation, Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said that though imposing huge amounts as costs in PILs was right, the larger perspective on PILs should not be lost. “We need to have some kind of audit or some kind of understanding so that the larger perspective of PIL is not lost,” Prasad said.

The minister was speaking during an Independence Day celebration organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association. On constant criticism of the government by the bench on multiple issues, Prasad urged the judiciary to let governance be done by those elected to govern, while the judiciary could intervene when the government had not done enough.

The remarks came a week after the Attorney General pointed out to a bench that judges may not know every aspect of every problem and should refrain from making comments against the government.
Echoing the same sentiments, SCBA President Vikas Singh said that lawyers and judges should not pass any oral observations while hearing cases as that could damage the institution, and said, “Every word spoken in the court is reported in the media and these observations can’t be expunged. No oral observations should be made which would damage or lower the prestige of this institution.”

He said that though the judiciary had always ensured that the separation of powers remained intact, “our experience is that in the day-to-day functioning of the court, this line is getting a little blurred”.Expressing concern over overcrowding in the courtroom and emphasizing the need to have live streaming of court proceedings, Attorney General K K Venugopal asked the Chief Justice of India and the law minister to examine the issue and find a solution. He said, “Sometimes it becomes impossible to enter the courtroom in SC and I have to shout to go to the front. I wonder what women lawyers have to go through in courtroom.”