Supreme Court cautions against ‘ambush PILs’

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 18

The Supreme Court on Thursday cautioned against what it termed as “ambush public interest litigations (PILs)”, saying the trend precluded genuine litigants from approaching the court in public interest.

Poorly pleaded

Poorly pleaded PILs… filed instantly after media disclosure… with conscious intention to seek dismissal from the court. — SC Bench

“While determining the applicability of the principle of res judicata under Section 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure 1908, the court must be conscious that grave issues of public interest are not lost in the woods merely because a petition was initially filed and dismissed, without substantial adjudication on merits,” a Bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud said while allowing disinvestment of Hindustan Zink Ltd. Res judicata is a legal concept that means a matter already decided by a competent court can’t be pursued further by the same parties.

There was a trend of poorly pleaded public interest litigations being filed instantly following a disclosure in the media, with a conscious intention to obtain a dismissal from the court and preclude genuine litigants from approaching the court in public interest, the top court said. “This court must be alive to the contemporary reality of ‘ambush public interest litigations’ and interpret the principles of res judicata or constructive res judicata in a manner which does not debar access to justice. The jurisdiction under Article 32 is a fundamental right in and of itself,” it noted.