RAMKISHORE PRASAD Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India the petitioner has approached this Court by way of a public interest litigation with the following prayer:

(2.) Public interest litigation has come to stay. Each and every failure and/or omission to discharge the public duty/obligation on the part of the public servant, public body or public authority, no doubt affects the interest of the public adversely in this way or that way. But all grievances arising out of omission and/or commission on the part of the public seryant, public body or public authority cannot be espoused in a court by way of public interest litigation. There should be restraint on the part of the public interest litigants. We are of the view that public interest may be espoused by way of public interest litigation in the rarest of the rare cases where omission or commission on the part of the public servant or public authority entails gross violation of fundamental rights of the citizens and/or invades the human rights, which shocks the judicial conscience. In this connection, it is ap-1 propriate to refer to the paras 58, 59 and 60 of the judgment of the Hon'ble the Supreme Court passed in the case of Shri Sachidanand Pandey & anr. v. The State of West Bengal and ors. (reported in AIR 1987 SC 1109) wherein in paras 58, 59 and 60 the Hon'ble Supreme Court observed as follows:

(3.) On perusal of the complaints made in this petition, we find that there is very little scope to espouse the grievances narrated in the writ petition by way of public interest litigation. However, in view of the fact that counter-affidavit filed by respondent Nos. 5, 7,8 and 9 we are of the view that at this belated stage, the petitioner may not be told off on the question of maintainability of the petition.