Lawyers frequently resorting to PIL forgetting the ground rule: SC

NEW DELHI: Exasperated by lawyers giving wings to imagination and filing a flurry of PILs seeking varied directions to the government on handling emergent situations during lockdown, the Supreme Court on Thursday said these advocates appear to have forgotten the basic premises for which the PIL was created three decades back.
A bench of Justices N V Ramana, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and B R Gavai said, "the whole concept of PIL is forgotten. Lawyers keep filing PILs based on their own perceptions. This is not PIL." More than three decades ago, the SC had created a special PIL instrument, something akin to class-action suits in US, to allow an individual or NGO to move the Supreme Court seeking protection of rights of downtrodden, voiceless, destitute or a group of persons who have no means to air their grievance. In 2010, the SC by a judgment had provided a 10-point checklist to weed out personal interest, publicity interest and frivolous PILs.
Since March 25, the SC has been conducting hearings through video-conferencing and mostly dealt with PILs relating to issues related to handling health, economy, finance and human problem during the lockdown. SC in most of the cases have sent the petitions as representations to the government for consideration.
On Thursday a bunch of PILs, all filed by lawyers, sought to find fault with the March 27 circular of RBI asking banks to defer deduction of EMIs for loans taken by individuals during the lockdown period as there was uncertainty over income. First bunch of there PILs were dismissed by the bench headed by Justice Ramana saying none of the lawyer-petitioners represented actual borrowers who could find the circular beneficial or troublesome. However, it kept the question of validity of the RBI circular open for consideration an appropriate petition.
Another PIL said many were aggrieved by the banks not implementing the RBI's March 27 circular on EMI moratorium. The bench said, "we direct the Reserve Bank of India to ensure implementation of the Circular dated 27.03.2020 in its letter and spirit."
Another PIL by NGO 'People For Better Treatment' sought immediate changes in treatment guidelines for seriously ill Covid patients in ICU who are being given a combination of MCQ and AZM as per recommendation of doctors of western countries. The bench said it has no expertise in the field and could not give a direction to the government or Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). However, it agreed to refer the petition to ICMR for consideration through solicitor general Tushar Mehta.
Another PIL sought providing ration to those people who do not have ration card and also pleaded for for universalisation of Public Distribution System. The bench said this is a policy issue, which is for the Union and state governments to consider.