role held by the Court
Supreme Court of India
Bandhua Mukti Morcha vs Union Of India & Others on 16 December, 1983
Equivalent citations: 1984 AIR 802, 1984 SCR (2) 67
Author: P Bhagwati
Bench: Bhagwati, P.N.
PETITIONER:
BANDHUA MUKTI MORCHA
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS
DATE OF JUDGMENT16/12/1983
BENCH:
BHAGWATI, P.N.
BENCH:
BHAGWATI, P.N.
PATHAK, R.S.
SEN, AMARENDRA NATH (J)
PER PATHAK, J CONCURRING
4:1. In public interest litigation, the role held by
the Court is more assertive than in traditional actions.
Viewed from the Warren Court's experience the role of the
Court is creative rather than passive, and it assumes a more
positive attitude in determining facts. Not infrequently
public interest litigation affects the rights of persons not
before the Court, and in shaping the relief the court must
invariably take into account its impact on those interests.
Moreover, when its jurisdiction is invoked on behalf of a
group, it is as well to remember that differences may exist
in content and emphasis between the claims of different
sections of the group. For all these reasons the court must
exercise the greatest caution and adopt procedures ensuring
sufficient notice to all interests likely to be affected.
Moreover, the nature of the litigation sometimes involves
the continued intervention of the Court over a period of
time, and the organising of the litigation to a satisfactory
conclusion calls for judicial statemanship, a close
understanding of constitutional and legal values in the
context of contemporary social forces, and a judicious mix
of restraint and activism determined by the dictates of
existing realities. Importantly, at the same time, the Court
must never forget that its jurisdiction extends no farther
than the legitimate limits of its constitutional powers, and
avoid trespassing into political territory which under the
Constitution has been appropriated to other organs of the
State. [159 B; D-G]