Activism Judicial Review The Supreme Court and the High Courts in India are entrusted with the power of judicial review, which extends to adjudicating upon the Constitutionality of legislations as well as the legality of executive action. Parliamentary and State legislations which contravened Constitutional requirements have been struck down by Judiciary. Judicial review has been extended to review ability of Constitutional amendments by evolving the doctrine of the basic structure of the Constitution according to which a Constitutional amendment which destroys or damages an essential feature of the Constitution, for example secularism, democracy and federalism, would be unconstitutional. Public Interest Litigation Any citizen of India can approach the courts for public case (upon the interest of the public) by filing a petition under (a) the Supreme Court by article , (b) in the High Court under article and (c) in the magistrate court under section of the CRPC.
The guidelines provide that Public interest Litigations can be filed under the following categories: . Bonded labour matters, . Neglected children, . Non- payment of minimum wages, .
Petitions from jails complaining of harassment, death in jail, speedy trial as a fundamental right etc. . Petitions against police for refusing to register a case, harassment of bride, bride burning, rape, murder, kidnapping etc. .
Petitions complaining harassment or torture of persons belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribes. . Petitions pertaining to environmental pollution. The Public interest Litigation jurisdiction forged by the Supreme Court is an extension of its jurisdiction under article of the Constitution.
Public interest Litigation is not in the nature of adversary litigation, but it is a challenge and an opportunity to the government and its officers to make such issues as human rights meaningful to the deprived and vulnerable sections of the society and to assure them socio-economic justice which is the signature tune of the Constitution. A Public interest Litigation may be filed against state and central government, municipal authority, but not against any private party. Recently in India, many cases from the area of Public interest Litigation has come into picture which has