Judicial Activism in India
Judicial Activism in India
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1567 InternationalJournalof Law) Management & Humanities [Vol. 4 Iss 5; 1567]
ABSTRACT
Judiciary in India plays an important role to protect the rights of Indian citizen. The
Constitution of India has constituted three important organs of the state and defined their
powers. Though the Supreme Court of India has some constraint in term of using its power
but sometimes it has to cross that limit to fill the vacuum created by the other two organs
and to protect the fundamental rights of people. From protecting the rights of women at
the workplace, rights ofprostitute's children, rights ofeducation to implementing the basic
features of sustainable development- the judiciary has come across a long way in terms of
Judicial Activism' by protecting human rights and the environment. This situation arises
when there is no law or there is requirement for interpretation of the law. The judiciary
has approached every aspect of human life and proven to be a boon for poor people by
shifting from the principle of locus standi to PIL. This paper tries to find the evolving
dimensions ofjudicial activism through various constitutional provisions and case laws.
I. INTRODUCTION
The three organs of the government- legislature, executive and judiciary have been created by
the constitution to achieve the meticulously articulated goals as enshrined under the Preamble
of the Indian constitution. It is the prime obligation of the state to ensure justice, liberty,
equality, and fraternity; and implementing the Directive Principles of State Policy while
ensuring the fundamental rights of each citizen as given in Part III of the Indian constitution.
The constitution has given immanent powers to the judiciary of reviewing the state's action in
order to inhibit the state from getting away with its responsibilities. The laws or policies made
by legislatures are constantly failing due to the inaction of the executive in implementing these
schemes and laws. Due to this dereliction, when the executive or the legislature endangers the
lives of a vulnerable group of the society, the judiciary interferes to give commandment for the
rights of an individual in the form of judicial activism. Moreover, when interpreting the law or
legislation does not tend to serve the objective of justice, the court frames the law or guidelines
for the same. The guidelines given in the case of Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan2 by the apex
court is one of its examples. When a certain vacuum is created by the legislation and also the
state fails to enact any law, the judiciary tries to fill the gap created by inaction, corruption, and
negligence among two important organs- legislature and executive. Judiciary at this time has
to expand its ambit to frame guidelines or policies which can be seen in the form of creativity
of judiciary, judge's dynamism, social transformation, or cultural and social revolution. The
lapse on the part of legislature and executive makes the concept of Judicial Activism
incumbent.
The ambit of judicial activism is so vast that there is no precise definition of it. It has no
statutory definition as every jurist or scholar defines it in a different manner. In the Black Law
Dictionary, it has been defined as a creed of making a judicial decision where judges while
making their decisions considers their personal opinion with other factors about public policy.
Judicial activism can also be broadly defined as the hypothesis of the active role played by the
judiciary. 3 Nowadays, judicial activism can be interpreted as a remedy of irregularities in
legislature and executive, which is done through the power vested by the Indian constitution to
the judiciary. It is often said that judicial activism is something beyond the traditional role of
judges where they act as individual policymaker on behalf of the people of the country for the
welfare of them. It can be seen in the form of- declaring any law unconstitutional, or overruling
the precedents, or in the form of interpretation of the legislation.
The act of judicial activism for someone may be judicial inactiveness for others and therefore
the subject is always open for debate. The idea of judicial activism is contrary to that of
'Judicial Restraint' but both of them describe the assertiveness of the judiciary. Judicial
activism is often called 'judicial absolutism', 'judicial supremacy', 'judicial liberalism', and
'judicial anarchy' etc. It can be said that the concept of judicial activism is open for
interpretation as it has a different meaning for different individuals.
Judgements given by the court have primarily two sources- judicial precedents and legislation
enacted by parliament. The concept of judicial activism takes place when the judiciary is given
the power to review the act done by states. These power are drawn from the constitution of
India which empower them to play an effective task by asserting themselves.
Article 13 r/w article 32 for Supreme Court and article 226 for high court allow the higher
3 Chateri Susanta, "'ForPublic Administration'Is judicial activism really deterrent to legislative anarchy and
executive tyranny? ", The Administrator, Vol XLII, April-June 1997, p 9
.
1569 InternationalJournalof Law) Management & Humanities [Vol. 4 Iss 5; 1567]
The Supreme Court can also grant Special Leave Petition (SLP) under article 136 of the
constitution to appeal any judgement from the lower court or tribunal court. In the case of UOI
v. C Damani & Co., 6 the court held that judgement by the Supreme Court under article 136
can be discretionary base on the principle of justice, equity, and good conscience. However,
this discretionary power should be used with due care, caution and only in exceptional cases. 7
The right under article 136 is not a right of a party to appeal but it is a right available to the
judiciary on the foundation of discretionary power and call of duty for annihilating injustice.s
Further, in the case of Rupa Ashok Hurra v. Ashok Hurra,9 the concept of the curative petition
was invented by the apex court while discussing whether the aggrieved person has any right
for some relief even after the final verdict given by the Supreme Court.
The most significant provision regarding judicial activism in the Indian constitution is article
142 which empowers the apex court to make an order for doing complete justice in the matter
at hand. The recent example of such an order is the judgement delivered in the noted case of
M Siddiq (D) Thr Lrs v. Mahant Suresh Das & Ors1 0 (also known as Ram
Janmabhoomi/Babri Masjid case) where the Supreme court overruled the judgement given by
Allahabad High court (2010) under article 142 of the Indian constitution. In India, the power
to make laws originally lies with the Parliament but the Supreme court has the power to
legislate through the power vested by article 142 of the Indian constitution. But it should be
noted that this article can be invoked only when there is a vacuum in law, or the order is in the
public interest." The order will remain until the parliament made a law regarding the same.
This shows us that the judiciary construes the fact that parliament is still the Supreme body to
make laws. This scenario can be witnessed in the case of Vishakha v. State of Rajasthan12 in
which guidelines were passed by the Supreme Court for prevention of sexual harassment cases
under article 32 r/w articles 141 and 142. These guidelines issued in 1997 were replaced by the
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act of
2013.
Thousands of printed pages on constituent assembly debates throws the light on the genesis of
ideas laying constitutional provisions. Much reliance on the historical material is not played by
the courts to interpret the provisions of the constitution. In Ash wini Kumar v. Arabinda Bose 13
the apex court observed that the Drafting Committee reports or Constituent Assembly debates
can be emphasised only when there is some ambiguity related to the concerned provision. The
reason for not relying on much is that speech made during the debate is only indicative and is
subjective of the intention of the speaker where the mental idea behind the majority vote is not
articulated in the assembly debates. Where there is two interpretation of the same thing then
the court can rely on historical materials. 14 Justice VR Krishna Iyer in Samsher Singh v. State
of Punjabis decided that President is the constitutional head of the state by referring to
Constituent Assembly debates.
The power of judicial review by the court was tried to be curtailed through the 1st, 4, and 17t
1 and Sajjan Singh v.
amendment acts. The question was raised in Shankari Prasad v. UOIP
State of Rajasthan'7 in which the court held that constituent power is not subjected to any
12 Supra note 2.
13 AIR 1952 SC369.
14 See FAZL ALI, J., in SP Gupta v. UOI, AIR 1982 SC 304-14.
15 AIR 1974 Sc 2192.
16 AIR 1951 SC 458.
17 AIR 1965 SC 845.
,
1571 InternationalJournalof Law) Management & Humanities [Vol. 4 Iss 5; 1567]
restriction. However, in the case of Golak Nath v. State of Punjab,1 8 it was held that parliament
cannot amend Part III of the Indian Constitution. In the landmark judgement of Kesavananda
Bharti v. State of Kerala1 9 , the 13 judges bench overruled the Golak Nath case and held that
legislature can amend the Part III of the constitution, but the basic structure of the constitution
should remain intact.
In the case of SP Sampath Kumar v. UO 20 , the apex court upheld the validity of article 323A
which is taking away the right of power of judicial review by High Courts but in the case of L
Chandra Kumar v. Union of India,2 1 this decision was overruled as it observed that power to
judicial review is part of the basic structure of the constitution.
The Supreme Court of India had determined the principle of locus standi so as to adjudicate
whether the person filing the petition has the capacity or right to appear in a court or to bring
an action. This principle is generally considered to protect the judiciary from spurious or sham
petitions. Petitioners had to show that it is them who are adversely affected by impugned action.
The exception to this case is the writ of habeas corpus in which a petition can be filed by any
person to liberate the aggrieved person from unlawful detention as there might be a situation
where a person is not in a condition to move to the court.
Access to justice has been held as a fundamental right of people. Many times, it has been
witnessed court taking Suo moto cognizance merely based on epistolary jurisdiction about
various violations such as human rights violation. 22 The court has looked into the matter of
public interest.
Although the traces of judicial activism in India can be traced in the judgement of 1893 by
Justice Mahmood of Allahabad High court in the matter where under trial person could not
afford a lawyer and held that precondition to be heard is when "somebody speaks". 23 But in
independent India, the cradle for judicial activism can be found from an emergency era when
Justice PN Bhagwati and VR Krishna Iyer initiate the phenomenon of Public Interest Litigation
(PIL). In SP Gupta v. President Of India & Ors.24, Justice Bhagwati propounded the need for
new innovative methods to provide justice to a large section of the society. By this move, the
higher judiciary has liberated themselves from the rule of locus standi and has given birth to
the concept of PIL. Following account have been considered while shifting from the principle
of locus standi to PIL:
i. to empower the judiciary to reach the most vulnerable section of the society i.e.,
marginalised poor people who have been continuously denied their fundamental rights,
ii. to empower people to file the petition of common concern which can arise due to
inefficiency of government or executive, and
iii. to amplify the participation of the general public in the judicial or constitutional
adjudication process.
According to SP Sathe, the conventional paradigm of the judicial process has to be changed by
a new paradigm that is more polycentric in nature. 25 The conventional paradigm was based on
the principle of res judicata i.e., was binding in personam but the judgement in PIL is also
binding on other persons.
In Sheela Barse v. UOI26 , the apex court said that the intention of the court while passing under
PIL should be to enforce the constitution and implement rule of law. This new innovation
compulsion is because of the constitutional promise of transforming the society into an
egalitarian welfare state. In the case of Hussainara Khatoon (I) v. State of Bihar2 7 which is
also one of the landmark judgement, a writ petition was filed highlighting the plight of
prisoners who have not even charged with an offence. The Supreme court held that speedy trial
is the fundamental right of the person and direct the state to provide free legal aid to the
undertrials prisoners.
However, many times the right to file PILs are abused by people. PIL should not be allowed
for administrating justice and creating a nuisance. 2 8 The recent example of one such PIL is
where the Apex Court dismissed the PIL filed by Waseem Rizvi (former chief of the Shia Waqf
Board), seeking deletion of certain verses from the Quran (Holy book of Muslims) and the
court termed it as 'frivolous' petition while imposing a fine of 250,000. 29
Fundamental rights jurisprudence has been developed by the judiciary by interpreting Article
25 S.P. Sathe, Judicial Activism in India (Sixth Indian Impression, OUP 2010).
26 (1988) 4 SCC 226.
27 AIR 1979 SC 1369.
28 Common Cause (A Regd. Society) v. Union Of India, AIR
2008 SC 2116.
29 Syed Waseem Rizvi v. Union of India, https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/supreme-court-
dismisses-plea-seeking-deletion-certain-verses-quran.
21 i.e., right to life and personal liberty liberally. In M.H. Hoskot v. State of Maharashtra30
the rights of prisoners were recognised by the Apex court to have access to legal facilities and
court. Displaying judicial activism rights like the right to compensation3 1 , the right to meet
friends and family members 32 and the right to mental privacy 33 have been held as fundamental
rights by the Supreme Court. In Gaurav Jain v. UOI34 , the apex court intervened to direct the
government for rehabilitating prostitute's children. Such children should not be allowed to live
in an undesirable atmosphere with their mothers and hence requires rehabilitation. In the case
of Bachpan Bachao Andolan v. Union of India3 5 , the apex court prohibit the employment of
children in circuses to protect the fundamental right of education and directed the government
to provide rehabilitation shelter to these children after raiding circuses till such children attain
the age of 18 years. In J.P. Unnikrishnan v. State of Andhra Pradesh 3 6, it was held by the
Supreme court that Article 21 also include the right to education which should be read with
Directive Principles of State Policy given in Part IV of the Indian Constitution. The cumulative
effect of article 21, article 38, 39(a) & (b), and article 41 and 42 forced the government to
provide basic education to all its citizens. There are many other things like the right to a
healthy environment, implementing the basic features of sustainable development, etc. which
have been the result of judicial activism as these rights have not been provided in the Indian
Constitution explicitly.
Many times, the judiciary itself has been accused of judicial intervention by the parliament and
intellectuals. In the case of Swaraj Abhiyan-(I) v. UOI & Ors3 8 ., the Supreme Court directed
the Agricultural Ministry to set up a National Disaster Mitigation Fund within the time frame
of three months. However, the then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expressed his concern over
the judicial overreach and creating the third fund other than NDRF and SDRF while keeping
in mind the appropriation bill is being passed and there is also a budget constraint in setting up
of such fund. 39 Even after its own decision that BCCI (Board for the Control of Cricket in
39 Five cases of judicial activism that has put govt. in a spot, Business Standard, Mumbai May 17, 2016, available
at https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/five-cases-of-judicial-activism-that-has-put-govt-in-
a-spot-116051700587_1.html.
,
1574 InternationalJournalof Law) Management & Humanities [Vol. 4 Iss 5; 1567]
India) is a private body another surprising opinion of the apex court was when it propounded
that the court is trying its best to improve the BCCI. 40
Another example is of NJAC judgement 4 1 in which the Supreme court by 4:1 held the 99"
Constitutional Amendment void as violating judicial independence. The NJAC was brought to
end the opacity in judicial appointment through a two-and-a-half-decade collegium system. In
many liberal democracies, judges do not have the power to appoint judges. The then-Attorney
General of India, Mukul Rohatgi called the judgement 'flawed' as the act was unanimously
passed by the parliament and have received the full support of the people in the largest
democracy of the world. In the NJAC commission which was supposed to have an equal
member of the judiciary and non- judiciary members the question arises hoe would it have
compromised the judicial independence. This judgement delivered was one of the most serious
face-offs between judiciary and legislature as the constitution envisaged the principle of
separation of power. In IR Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu42 , the court reemphasised that
separation of power is essential to prevent tyranny and preserving liberty. However, it should
be noted that the apex court propounded the need for an update in the present collegium system
and has welcomed the full-fledged debate on the same.
There is no oppugn that the judiciary should self-restraint itself. In the case of Divisional
Manager, Aravalli Golf Course v. Chander Haas43 , the same view was observed by the
Supreme Court that judges should not cross their limit and must not try to take over the
government by running it. The separation of powers must be respected and each organ of the
State i.e., legislature, executive and judiciary must not intrude in each other's domain and
should respect each other. The court warned that 'Judicial Activism' should not become
'Judicial Adventurism" and observed that 'judicial intervention' or 'judicial encroachment' or
'judicial activism' is often justified by saying that legislature and executive are not doing their
job properly so the same can be said about the judiciary as cases are still pending in various
courts for half-a-century. The courts should restrain themselves in order to complement the
balance of power among the three organs of the State.
Judicial activism puts some sort of restriction on the enjoyment of power by different
governmental organs. And one of the key aspects of the concept of judicial activism is creativity
40 Ibid.
41 Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record-Association v. Union of India, (2016) 5 SCC 1.
42 AIR 2007 SC 81.
43 (2008) 1 SCC 683.
and innovation in the field of law. Such practices work in a way to bring about a balance in
terms of law where the law in itself purports to imbalances. Moreover, it results in speedy
redressal of public grievances by applying judicial wisdom in order to put a check on the misuse
of legitimate power given to the government.
Sometimes, judicial activism violates the constitutional provision through the act of overriding
legislation under the process of judicial review. Judicial activism can be influenced by the
judge's own interest or an ideology under which they deliver such judgements which are not
free from the vices of biasness. Moreover, under the influence of judicial activism, courts may
end up disrupting the legislative process which erodes the very basis of any democratic country
and also, the court's activism may result in putting a severe restriction on the law-making
powers of the legislature.
X. CONCLUSION
Judiciary in India has laid down a strong foundation of the constitution. The ambit of judicial
activism is so vast that there is no precise definition of it. The powers for judicial activism or
review are drawn from the constitution of India which empower them to play an effective task
by asserting themselves. The Supreme Court of India had determined the principle of locus
standi so as to adjudicate whether the person filing the petition has the capacity or right to
appear in a court but by interpreting the law liberally and dynamically judiciary has approached
every aspect of human life and proven to be a boon for poor people by shifting from the
principle of locus standi to PIL. However, it is an important point to note that when the
judiciary become over-enthusiastic and cross its line it can create repercussions. Therefore, the
principle of 'Separation of Power' must be respected. Judicial restraint is a complement to the
separation of power among three organs of the state. Judicial restraint fosters equality among
different branches while protecting the independence of the judiciary. Judiciary should not
override the functions of the legislature as neither they have any resources nor any expertise in
performing these functions. The role of the judiciary is to the interpretation of legislation and
serve the people of the country to maintain the welfare society and not making the law itself.
While being active, the court must remember to maintain the balance of power.
However, it should be noted that judicial activism has given people hope for justice. The
judicial activism must be accompanied by the intention to serve people. Sometimes, it is
difficult to interpret the laws and the main reason which forces the court to perpetrate judicial
activism is due to the inaction and insufficiency of the legislature and executive in
implementing schemes and laws. Therefore, to safeguard the constitutional values and the
issues described, the existence of judicial activism is necessary.
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