Lok Sabha Question No. 1563 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-19
Subject: PILs Pending in Courts
Ministry: LAW AND JUSTICE
Asked by: RAJIV PRATAP RUDY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF LAW AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 1563 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.12.2018 PILs Pending in Courts

1563. SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY: Will the Minister of LAW AND  JUSTICE  be pleased to state: (a)  the  number  of  cases  and  PILs  pending  in  various  high  courts  and Supreme Court in the country, court-wise; (b) the number of cases in the High Courts and Supreme Court which have been pending for more than 10 years along with the maximum duration of cases pending, court-wise; (c)  the  details  regarding  the  number  of  Public  Interest  Litigations  (PILs) filed  in  the  Supreme  Court and various High Courts in the country over the last three  years, court-wise and year-wise; (d)  whether  the  Government  has  taken  cognizance  of  filing  of  frivolous litigations under the guise of PIL and if so, the details thereof; and (e)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  initiate  action  to  check  such frivolous litigations and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW & JUSTICE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SH. P.P.CHAUDHARY)

(a), (b) and (c) No  separate  data  is  maintained  by  the  Supreme  Court,  High Courts  and  National  Judicial  Data  Grid  in  respect  of  PILs.  The  information  as available  on  the  website  of  Supreme  Court  and  National  Judicial  Data  Grid  in respect of pending cases including PILs is as under-

|   S.No. | Details                                       |   No. of Cases Pending (including PILs) | Number of cases pending for more than 10 years   | Data as on   |
|---------|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------|
|       1 | Hon'ble Supreme Court                         |                                   56994 | --------                                         | 01.12.2018   |
|       2 | Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Allahabad |                                  723415 | 276077                                           | 17.12.2018   |
|       3 | Hon'ble Calcutta High Court                   |                                  242846 | 91496                                            | 17.12.2018   |
|       4 | Hon'ble Guwahati High Court                   |                                   40399 | 350                                              | 17.12.2018   |
|       5 | Hon'ble Bombay High Court                     |                                  464074 | 145425                                           | 17.12.2018   |
|       6 | Hon'ble Chhatisgarh High Court                |                                   63047 | 6622                                             | 17.12.2018   |
|       7 | Hon'ble Delhi High Court                      |                                   73672 | 8019                                             | 17.12.2018   |
|       8 | Hon'ble Gujarat High Court                    |                                  113302 | 13633                                            | 17.12.2018   |
|       9 | Hon'ble Himachal Pradesh High Court           |                                   36116 | 1359                                             | 17.12.2018   |
|      10 | Hon'ble Jammu& Kashmir High Court             |                                   91715 | 10520                                            | 17.12.2018   |
|      11 | Hon'ble Jharkhand High Court                  |                                   87937 | 15326                                            | 17.12.2018   |
|      12 | Hon'ble High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad |                                  360262 | 46603                                            | 17.12.2018   |
|      13 | Hon'ble Karnataka High Court                  |                                  235906 | 5907                                             | 17.12.2018   |
|      14 | Hon'ble Madhya Pradesh High Court             |                                  330075 | 63987                                            | 17.12.2018   |
|      15 | Hon'ble Manipur High                          |                                    7697 | 1716                                             | 17.12.2018   |

|    | Court                              |        |        |
|----|------------------------------------|--------|--------|
| 16 | Hon'ble Meghalaya High Court       |   1029 |      0 |
| 17 | Hon'ble Punjab& Haryana High Court | 393953 | 100714 |
| 18 | Hon'ble Rajasthan High Court       | 739500 | 119837 |
| 19 | Hon'ble Sikkim High Court          |    252 |      0 |
| 20 | Hon'ble Tripura High Court         |   2912 |      1 |
| 21 | Hon'ble Uttarakhand High Court     |  55463 |  22398 |
| 22 | Hon'ble Madras High Court          | 398121 | 101727 |
| 23 | Hon'ble Orissa High Court          | 169012 |  34813 |
| 24 | Hon'ble Patna High Court           | 151169 |  21628 |

(d) and (e) The  Hon'ble  Supreme  Court  from  time  to  time  through  its  various judgments has observed that the Court must be careful to see that the member of the  public,  who  approaches  the  court  through  Public  Interest  Litigation  is  acting bona fide and not for personal gain or private profit or political motivation or other oblique consideration and that the court must not allow its process to be abused. Public-interest litigation is a rule of declared law by the courts of record. However, the person (or entity) filing the petition must prove to the satisfaction of the court that the petition is being filed for the public interest and not as a frivolous litigation for  pecuniary  gain.  The  Supreme  Court  in  the  case  of  State  of  Uttaranchal  vs. Balwant  Singh  Chaufal  and  others  [CA  No's.  1134-35/2002],  issued  certain directions  in  order  to  preserve  the  purity  and  sanctity  of  the  PIL.  Further  Rule 12(3) of Order No. XXXVII of the Supreme Court Rules 2013 provides that 'The Court may impose exemplary costs on the petitioner (s) if it finds that the petition was frivolous or instituted with oblique or mala fide motive or lacks bona fides.' Since Hon'ble Supreme Court has been issuing guidelines from time to time to put a  check  on  these  meaningless  litigation,  Government  has  no  proposal  to  further interfere in such matter.

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