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23 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 561 (1984-1985)
Judicial Activism and Public Interest Litigation

handle is hein.journals/cjtl23 and id is 585 raw text is: Address Judicial Activism and Public Interest Litigation* P.N. BHAGWATI** The subject I have chosen for my lecture today is Judicial Ac- tivism and Public Interest Litigation. When I was first asked what subject I would be speaking on, I suggested that it be Public Interest Litigation: The Indian Experience. In fact, this topic was suggested to me by my friend Jack Greenberg.*** I thought, however, that no discussion of public interest litigation in India could be complete without some reflection on the nature of judicial activism because, as I shall presently argue, public interest litigation in India is primarily judge-led and even to some extent judge-induced; the product of juris- tic and judicial activism on our Supreme Court. I will therefore begin by examining the nature of judicial activ- ism. It can hardly be disputed that judicial activism is now a central feature of every political system that vests adjudicatory power in a free and independent judiciary. The scope of judicial activism varies with the width of the power conferred on the courts. Where the courts have the power of judicial review, there is greater scope for judicial activism, and this scope increases considerably where the power of judicial review extends not only over executive action, as in * This address was delivered on Oct. 3, 1984 at the Columbia University School of Law as part of the Samuel Rubin Program for the Advancement of Liberty and Equality through Law. The program was established by a gift of the Samuel Rubin Foundation to promote concern for universal human rights and the peaceful resolution of economic and social conflict through free expression and the right to dissent. ** Justice of the Supreme Court of India and Chairman of the Indian National Commit- tee of the Implementation of the Legal Aid Schemes. Justice Bhagwati will become Chief Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of India in July of 1985. *** Jack Greenberg is a Professor of Law at Columbia University and former Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense Fund --ed.

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