Structural Injunctions and Public Interest Litigation in India

Abstract

It is now generally accepted – both by commentators on the Indian Supreme Court and by the Court itself – that the Court’s public interest litigation docket is best analysed in three phases. In the first, the Court protects the poor and marginalised; in the second, the Court considers matters on the environment and sustainable development; and in the third, the Court turns its attention to governance and transparency in administration. The Court’s use of structural injunctions to manage litigation is a common thread that runs through these phases. This Chapter will analyse the Court’s use of structural injunctions across the three phases, and in particular, the continuities in how, why and when the Court decides to deploy these injunctions. The Chapter will do so by focussing in close detail on the Court’s orders in the salient cases of each of these three phases.

Keywords: Indian constitution, structural injunctions, public interest litigation, constitutional remedies