Voice of the public has to be raised in democracy, says SC

NEW DELHI: Emphasising that people must be allowed to raise their voices in a democracy, the Supreme Court on Tuesday objected to the Centre’s contention that the court should not entertain PILs filed by some of the NGOs as they intend to run a “parallel administration” by filing multiple petitions challenging government decisions.
While opposing a PIL filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan on behalf of Common Cause, an NGO, against the Centre’s decision for retrospective change in the tenure of incumbent ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra from two years to three years, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pleaded before a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai that the court should take a serious view of the recent trend of some organisations, including the petitioner, of misusing the judiciary by filing PILs with vested interests against government’s decisions.
“This had led to sheer abuse of process of law by certain individuals and organisations who exist with the sole aim, objective and purpose of filing PILs selectively. Under the scheme of Indian jurisprudence and even under the diluted concept of locus standi, it is unthinkable that one organisation can exist only to file PILs as its only function. Filing of PILs can never be a profession by itself, either for an individual or for any organisation. The very fact of selective filing of cases by such organisation defeats the very object for which this court in its zeal to alleviate injustice everywhere, had diluted the concept of locus standi,” Mehta said.
The bench, however, was not convinced with the submission and said the issue raised by the NGO had to be adjudicated on merit. “Voice of the public has to be raised in democracy,” it said.