court of law.pptx

Procedure in law court
• Broadly, court procedure in India is governed by the CPC
for civil matters and the Cr.PC for criminal matters.
• Provisions in the CPC and the Cr.PC are recognised as the
embodiments of the principles of fair play, natural
justice and due process.

Pre Filing:
• The pre filing stage is when the dispute arises and the parties make demands, try to
negotiate the matter between them without taking a legal recourse. However, if they
fail to reach a resolution then the parties prepare for the possibility of a court action.
Initial Pleading:
• At this stage, one party files papers/documents i.e., a complaint to start the court
action, and the other party files their response to such complaint i.e., a motion or an
answer.
Discovery:
• At this stage, both the parties exchange documents and responses filed by them in
court and learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the other side’s case.

Pre- Trial:
• At this stage, both the parties start preparing for trial, they get their evidence and
witnesses in order. Even at this stage they might engage in some out of court settlement
conference, after such an attempt the parties may file motions with the court to resolve
the case or to limit the issues for trial.
Trial:
• At this stage, the case is actually heard by the judge or a jury (which may last for a couple
of hours or a couple of months, depending on the complexity of the case), witnesses are
examined, evidence is presented, and the case is eventually decided and a judgement is
pronounced.
Post Trial:
• At this stage, one or both of the parties might file an appeal challenging the judgement
passed.

Filing of Suit/Plaint
• The first step to initiate a suit is to file a plaint. A plaint is a written complaint or
allegation. The party who files it is known as “plaintiff” and the party against whom
it is filed is known as “Defendant”.
A Plaint contains:
• Name of the Court
• Name and Addresses of the parties between whom the dispute arose
• Subject (a brief statement telling about the sections and orders under which the
jurisdiction of the court is evoked)
• Main Content or submissions made by plaintiff
• Verification from plaintiff stating that the contents of the plaint are true and correct.

Procedure for Appeal
• The appeal has to be filed in the prescribed form, signed by the
appellant, along with a certified copy of the order
• If the appeal filed is against a decree for payment of money, the court
may order the petitioner to deposit the disputed amount
• Any issue which was not taken up by the appellant, in lower court,
cannot be subsequently taken up in the appeal filed. The appeal lies only
against those points which have been decided by the lower court;
whether they were correct or not.

Summoning Witnesses
• A summons is a written notice served on a person under the authority
of the court to appear personally before the court. ... Thus, summons
are sent to the witnesses through the procedure laid under Order 16 of
CPC. Without summons, the parties cannot enforce the presence of
witnesses and establish their case.
• Most witnesses attend court voluntarily, but where there is reluctance
or a refusal to give evidence at trial, a witness summons can be granted
by the magistrates or judge to secure the attendance of a witness, or
the production of a document or other item at court.

Summoning Witnesses
• Every summon shall be served by a police officer, or by an officer of the
court issuing it or any other public servant. The summon shall if
practical, be served personally on the person summoned, by delivering
or tendering to him one of the duplicates of the summons.

Summoning Witnesses
• Compulsory Attendance—A Court can compel the personal attendance
of any witness residing within the local limits of its jurisdiction, or
without such limits if the person to be summoned is at a place, not
more than fifty miles from the Court house or not more than two
hundred miles if there is a railway communication or public conveyance,
provided that he is not exempted under any of the provisions of the
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
• A proviso has been added to Order XVI, Rule 19, Civil Procedure Code in
Punjab with the result that a Court situated in the State of Punjab may
require the personal attendance of any witness residing in the State of
Punjab or the Union Territory of Delhi. (High Court Notification No. 60—
General IX Y. 8, dated the 4th March, 1955).

Summoning Witnesses
Attendance of pardanashin ladies—Under Section 132 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908, women, who according to the customs and manners of
the country, ought not to be compelled to appear in public shall be exempt
from personal attendance in Court.
Other exemptions—The Court has a discretion to exempt from attendance
as witness any person who in the opinion of the Court, is from sickness or
infirmity unable so to attend (Order XXVI Rule 1, C.P.C.), or being a Civil or
Military Officer of the Government, cannot attend without detriment to
the Public Service (Order XXVI Rule 4, C.P.C.). As regards the attendance of
Patwaries in Civil Courts Part B of this Chapter should be referred to.

Summoning Witnesses
• Evidence by Commission—The Court may
issue a Commission for the examination of a
witness, whose attendance cannot be
compelled according to law, or cannot be
secured for any other sufficient reason in the
circumstances specified in Order XXVI of the
Civil Procedure Code.

Summoning Witnesses
• Proclamation, attachment and arrest in case of non-attendance —The Court, on
being satisfied that the person summoned has intentionally failed to attend or to
produce the document in compliance with such summons without any lawful excuse
and that his evidence or the document is material, may, issue a proclamation
requiring him to attend to give evidence or produce the document at a time and place
to be named therein.
• Or, the Court, may, in lieu thereof, or in addition to it, issue a warrant, with or without
bail, for the arrest of such person and may make also an order for the attachment of
his property to such an amount as it deems fit to cover the costs of the attachment
and any fine which may be imposed for his failure to attend, not exceeding Rs. 500.
(vide Order XVI, Rule 10 Code of Civil Procedure, 1908).

Summoning Witnesses
Fine—
Whenever such person appears and satisfies the Court that he did not,
without lawful excuse, fail to comply with the summons, the Court release
the attachment or cancel the warrant of arrest, as the case may be. Where
such person does not appear, or appears but fails to satisfy the Court that
there was a lawful excuse for his absence, the Court may impose a fine, not
exceeding Rs. 500 to be recovered by the attachment (if not already
effected) and sale of his property (Order XVI, Rule 12, Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908).

Witnesses
According to Black's Law Dictionary, "Witness is one who sees, knows or
vouches for something or one who gives testimony, under oath or
affirmation in person or by oral or written deposition, or by affidavit".
According to Bentham, "Witnesses are the eyes and ears of justice".
According to J. Wadhwa, "A criminal case is built on the edifice of
evidence, evidence that is admissible in Law. For that witnesses are
required, whether it is direct evidence or circumstantial evidence",

Witnesses
KINDS OF WITNESSES
According to Black's Law Dictionary the term 'Witness' means:
• Person who sees a document signed
• Person called to court to testify and provides evidence.
Therefore, there are different types of witness who assist in concluding the
trial for delivering the justice.
They are Child Witness, Interested Witness, Eye Witness, Hostile Witness,
Related Witness, Independent Witness, Solitary Witness, Material Witness,
Trap Witness, Expert Witness & Official Witness.

Witnesses
EXAMINATION OF WITNESS
• Examination of witness plays a key role in the presentation of the
evidence in a court of law regardless of the character of the case i.e.
civil or criminal.
• Admissibility of evidence is also a crucial aspect which is decided by the
judicial officers only.

Witnesses
• The testimony of a witness is recorded in the form of question and
answer.
• Witness is not permitted to deliver a speech to the court but is meant
only to answer the question. The testimony of the witness is only
confined to the facts relevant to the issue.
• Such process of recording the evidence is termed the examination of a
witness.

Witnesses
• Section 135 of the Indian Evidence Act deals with the examination of
witnesses present.
• In the Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 311 empowers the court to
summon a material witness, or to examine a person present at "any
stage" of "any enquiry", or "trial", or "any other proceedings" under CrPC,
or to summon any person as a witness, or to recall and re-examine any
person who has already been examined if his evidence appears to be
insufficient.
• Examination of witnesses is envisaged in the Code of Criminal Procedure
whether in trials either session trial, warrant trial, summons trial or

TRIALS
What is a Trial?
• Trial is the process in a court of law where a judge or a
magistrate listens to evidence and decides if somebody is guilty of
a crime or not.
• A trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present
information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting
with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes.
• In simple terms, a trial can be defined as a formal examination of
evidence by a judge, usually before a jury, so as to decide a crime
in a criminal or civil proceeding case.

TYPES OF TRIALS
• There are 4 types of trial of offences in Indian legal system
namely
• Trial by Court of Session,
• Trial of Warrant case,
• Trial of Summons case,
• Summary trials.

TYPES OF TRIALS
1.Sessions Trial or Trial by court of Session: –
If the offence committed is punishable with more than seven years of
imprisonment or Life imprisonment or Death, the trial is to be
conducted in a Sessions court after being committed or forwarded to
the court by a magistrate.

TYPES OF TRIALS
2.Warrant Trial or Trial of Warrant cases: –
• Warrant case includes offence punishable with the death penalty,
imprisonment for life and imprisonment exceeding two years.
• A trial in a warrant case begins either by filing an FIR in a Police
Station or by filing it before a Magistrate.

TYPES OF TRIALS
3.Summons Trial or Trial of Summons cases: –
• If the offense committed is punishable by imprisonment less than
two years, it is treated as a summons case.
• In relation to this crime, it is not necessary to frame charges. The
magistrate issues summons under section 204 (1) (a) of Cr.P.C,
1973. “Summons case” means a case related to the offense, not a
case of a warrant.

TYPES OF TRIALS
4.Summary Trials: –
• The trials in which cases are disposed of rapidly and a simple
procedure is followed and recording of such trials are done
summarily.
• In this trial only small cases are taken up and complex cases are
reserved for summons and warrant trials. The legal provisions for
summary trial are given under section 260-265 of Cr.P.C, 1973.

Witnesses
• The examination of a witness by the party who calls that witness is called
the Examination-in-Chief.
• The examination is only confined to relevant facts and leading questions
are not asked.
• The objective of this examination is to induce all material facts from the
witness within the witness's knowledge referring to the party's case.

Witnesses
• It is the duty of the counsel to bring out neatly and in proper
chronological order every relevant fact supporting his client's case to
which the witness can depose.
• The statements made in examination-in-chief lose much credibility and
weight unless they are put into the crucible of cross-examination and
emerge unscathed from the rest.

Witnesses
The examination of witnesses can be classified into three types as defined
under, Section 137 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 as follows:
• Examination-in-chief means the examination of witness by the party who
calls him
• Cross- Examination means the examination of witness by the adverse
party
• Re-Examination means the another examination of a witness, after the
cross examination, by the party who called him.

Witnesses
• The order of examination is laid down under section 138 which states
that:
Witnesses shall be first examined-in-chief, then (if the adverse party so
desires) cross-examined, and finally (if the party calling him so desires) re-
examined.
• The examination and cross-examination must relate to relevant facts;
however, the cross-examination need not be confined to the facts to
which the witness testified on his examination-in-chief.

Witnesses
Direction of re-examination:
• The re-examination shall be directed to the clarification of matters noted
in cross-examination; and, if new matter is, by permission of the Court,
introduced in re-examination, the adverse party may further cross-
examine upon that matter.

Witnesses
The Witness Protection Scheme
• The Witness Protection Scheme, 2018, is the first attempt at the national
level to grant protection to the witnesses, which will contribute to
eliminating victimization of witnesses and prevent them from becoming
hostile.
• Witnesses are the eyes and ears of justice, as they play a key role in
bringing justice to the victims of heinous crimes.
• This scheme attempts to ensure that witnesses receive adequate
protection and it aims to strengthen criminal and civil justice system in
India.

Preparation of a case
Read the Complaint
• Whether you are the person who filed the case (the “plaintiff”) or the
defendant, you should re-read the complaint.
• This is the document that the judge will have in front of him or her. S/he
will be looking for an explanation of all of the items noted in the
complaint.
• Your first task is to prove (or disprove, if you are the defendant) what
was alleged in the complaint.

Then ask yourself the following questions:
• What evidence do I need to prove (or disprove) the statements? How can I
find the documents or witnesses?
• What has happened since that time that might be relevant? (For example,
has the other side made a partial payment on a debt owed to you? Have
you mediated the case? Are there additional damages?)
• Does the complaint tell all the key elements of the story?

Find copies of contracts and any other written communications
between you and the other side
• If you have a contract, read it. You can be sure that the other side has done so. The judge
will expect both parties to be familiar with the contract. There are certain legal elements
that must be proved if your goal is to enforce your contract. If you wish to show that the
contract is not valid, you must explain why (disproving the same elements).
• It is also helpful to look at any of the other letters or emails between the two of you. Have
they made any offers? Can you settle before court? Did the other side admit anything that
supports your case? Do they give you insight into the argument that the other side will
make? If so, how can you prepare to counter these arguments?

Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of your case
• If you are the plaintiff, review what you must prove in order to be successful. Do you have
the evidence to persuade the judge? What can you do to address the weaknesses? Write
down each item you must prove and put how you will prove it next to each item. Would it
make sense to try to reach a settlement before the trial?
• If you are the defendant, review what the plaintiff must prove. Look at each of the
elements that the plaintiff must prove. Write down each item and list the evidence that
you think the plaintiff will gather. For each of these elements, write down the weaknesses
that you can exploit to undermine the other side’s case.

Prepare your documents and evidence for trial
Once you have identified all of the important documents and any physical evidence that
you plan to bring, prepare them for trial. Organized documents will help you be calm in
court. You cannot be too organized.
Identify and prepare any witnesses
Once you have looked at the legal elements that you must prove, think about whether
there are any witnesses. A good witness will:
• Be able to support a key point in your case;
• Have “first hand” knowledge of that key point;
• Not have a reason to lie about the situation;
• If you need an expert, have the correct expertise; and
• Be able and willing to testify on the day of the trial.

Practice, Practice, Practice your presentation
• Once you are started, your story will flow easily, especially if you have
a few notes in outline form and your documents are organized in the
order you plan to mention them.
• Indicate on your notes which documents you have to prove which
point.
• You may want to number your documents to help you keep track of
them.

Appearing in court
Before court
What to bring with you on the day
When representing yourself in court, it is important to take everything you may wish to
speak to on the day of your appearance, and something to take notes with on the day.
For example, on the day of your trial you should take your bundle of documents, which
includes your witness statements, any written submissions you have prepared, and any
letters or emails from the court;
• a pen and some paper to keep track of what is being said throughout the trial; and
• highlighter pens or post-it notes to keep track of documents that are being discussed,
and to mark important points made.

Appearing in court
Dress tidily
Everyone appearing in court should wear appropriate clothing. You should
dress as smartly and tidily as you can for court.
When you arrive at court
Arrive early
If possible, be at least an hour early for court.
When you arrive
Check the daily list to see which courtroom your hearing is in. The daily list is
usually clearly visible as you walk through the main doors of the courthouse.
If you cannot see or find the list, ask reception.

Appearing in court
Speaking in court
It is important that you speak loudly, slowly and clearly in court. You want people to be
able to easily hear and understand what you are saying.
You are not expected to know legal terms so use simple, non-legal language as much as
possible. It’s also a good idea to keep your sentences as short as possible. If you do not
understand a term used in court you may ask the judge to explain the term when it is
your turn to speak.

Appearing in court
Behaviour
• Timeliness is crucial to the smooth running of the court. Please arrive at court on time,
and be sure to return from court breaks on time.
• It is important to behave politely at all times, including to the prosecutor and
prosecution witnesses.
• Do not interrupt when other parties are speaking, unless (on legal grounds) you object
to a question being asked or the way a question is asked of a witness. If you wish to
object, quietly stand to indicate this objection. Note that you will have an opportunity to
respond after the other party is finished speaking.

Appearing in court
Behaviour
• You should stand whenever you are speaking, or being spoken to, in court.
• Only one person should be standing at a time.
• All people in court are expected to show respect for court processes. This includes not
eating or drinking in court. There are also limits on the use of electronic devices in
courts. Please check with the court taker about the use of texting and emailing.

Appearing in court
It is important not to:
• insult a judicial officer, registrar, officer of the court (including the prosecutor),
jury or or any witness;
• interrupt proceedings of a court;
• otherwise misbehave in court; or
• disobey any order or direction of the court during your case.
Tips for interacting with judges
• You will be required to stand whenever the judge enters or leaves the courtroom.
• A judge of the High Court must be addressed as Your Honour, Sir (male) or Ma’am
(female). Associate judges must be called Sir (male) or Ma’am (female).

Evidence
• Oral and documentary evidence are the two main kinds of
evidence.
• Oral evidence includes direct evidence and also substantive and
corroborative evidence
• whereas, documentary evidence only includes substantive and
corroborative evidence.
• Therefore, appreciation of evidence in suits, more specifically deals
with oral and documentary evidence.

Evidence
According to Section 3 of the Evidence Act 1872, evidence means and includes:
• All such statements which the court allows or needs to be presented before it
by the witnesses in connection to matters of fact under inquiry. These
statements are termed as oral evidence.
• All such documents including any electronics record, presented before the court
for inspection. These documents are termed as documentary evidence.

Evidence
Types of Evidence
According to the definition given in the Indian Evidence Act, evidence can be
divided into two categories:
• Oral Evidence;
• Documentary Evidence.
• It should be noted that evidence can be both oral and documentary and also,
electronic records can be presented in the court as evidence, which means that
even in criminal cases, evidence can be presented by way of electronic records.
This shall include video-conferencing.

Evidence
Oral and documentary evidence can be divided into
two categories:
• Direct or primary;
• Indirect or hearsay or secondary.
• There is also a category of real or material evidence, which is supplied by
material objects for inspection of the Court such as a stolen good or the weapon
of offense.

Evidence
Oral Evidence
• Oral evidence renders to the evidence that is mainly words spoken by mouth. It is
adequate to be proved without the support of any documentary evidence,
provided it has credibility.
• Primary oral evidence is the evidence that has been personally heard or seen or
gathered by the senses of a witness. It is called direct evidence as defined by
Section 60 of the Indian Evidence Act.
• Indirect or hearsay evidence is generally not admissible in a court of law as the
person reporting the facts is not the actual witness of the facts in issues. However,
there are some exceptions made in the case of hearsay evidence where it is
admissible in a court of law. Section 32 and Section 33 of the Indian Evidence Act,
states the exceptional cases of hearsay evidence.

Evidence
Documentary Evidence
• Documentary evidence is the evidence that mentions any issue described or
expressed upon any material by way of letters, figures or marks or by more than
one of the ways which can be used for recording the issue. Such evidence is
presented in the form of a document to prove a disputed fact in court.
• Primary documentary evidence includes the evidence that shows the original
documents as mentioned in Section 62 of the Indian Evidence Act, whereas
secondary documentary evidence is the evidence that includes copies of
documents that can be presented in the court under certain circumstances or as
mentioned in Section 63 and Section 65 of the Indian Evidence Act.

Evidence
For establishing proof by circumstantial evidence, four things are
required:
• All the facts should be consistent with the theory.
• The circumstances from which the inference for the theory was drawn, should be
fully established.
• The circumstances should be of a decisive nature.
• The circumstances should serve to mean and prove only the theory proposed to be
proved and should not entertain any other theory.

Evidence
• Courtrooms rely more and more on the information inside a mobile phone as
vital evidence.
• Prevailing evidence in court requires a good understanding of the rules of
evidence.
• Mobile forensics is a relatively new discipline and laws dictating the validity of
evidence are not widely known.
• However, there are five general rules of evidence that apply to digital forensics
and need to be followed in order for evidence to be useful. Ignoring these rules
makes evidence inadmissible, and your case could be thrown out.
• These five rules are—admissible, authentic, complete, reliable, and believable.

Method of giving Evidence
• According to section 59 and 60, facts can be proved by two ways,
One is Orally and Second is Documentary (includes Electronic
Documents),
•
• Oral Evidence mostly suggest the Verbal deposition before the
Court (and not other wise), and Which includes oral statement
regarding materials too
• Documentary Evidence suggest the Documents.

Method of giving Evidence
• So The Evidence Regarding Matter which have number of Facts, for which
Evidence by way of oral or Documentary produced before the court for its
Evaluation for either one fact or facts.
• Court by going through those Documentary Evidence and Oral Evidence
decide that particular fact and all facts are proved or not, or whether the
fact or facts can be presumed to be proved?

Evidence
Admissible
This is the most basic rule and a measure of evidence validity and importance. The
evidence must be preserved and gathered in such a way that it can be used in
court or elsewhere. Many errors can be made that could cause a judge to rule a
piece of evidence as inadmissible. For example, evidence that is gathered using
illegal methods is commonly ruled inadmissible.
Authentic
The evidence must be tied to the incident in a relevant way to prove something.
The forensic examiner must be accountable for the origin of the evidence.

Evidence
Complete
When evidence is presented, it must be clear and complete and should reflect the whole
story. It is not enough to collect evidence that just shows one perspective of the incident.
Presenting incomplete evidence is more dangerous than not providing any evidence at all
as it could lead to a different judgment.
Reliable
Evidence collected from the device must be reliable. This depends on the tools and
methodology used. The techniques used and evidence collected must not cast doubt on
the authenticity of the evidence. If the examiner used some techniques that cannot be
reproduced, the evidence is not considered unless they were directed to do so.

Evidence
Believable
A forensic examiner must be able to explain, with clarity and
conciseness, what processes they used and the way the integrity of
the evidence was preserved. The evidence presented by the examiner
must be clear, easy to understand, and believable by jury.

Importance of Fire Reports
• The Fire Reports should contain all the factual
information
• The Contents of the report should be logically clear
• It serves as a Basic documents for filing a case in the law
court

• The Reports should also include the reference of any
Evidence found at the fire site and preserved.
• Report also to include The names of the witnesses with
their details which can form the evidence at the court

• The Fire Reports can form the base for Forensic
Investigation
• A forensic examiner must be able to explain, with clarity
and conciseness, what processes they used and the way
the integrity of the evidence was preserved.
• The evidence presented by the examiner must be clear,
easy to understand, and believable by jury.

Perjury
In simple terms Perjury is defined as
• An offence of lying when you are under oath.
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 defines Perjury in Chapter IX "OF
FALSE EVIDENCE AND OFFENCES AGAINST PUBLIC JUSTICE" under
Section 191.
•
• The punishment for the offence of Perjury is defined under section
193 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 as SEVEN YEARS of imprisonment.

Perjury
• In criminal law, the wilful assertion as to a matter of fact, opinion,
belief, or knowledge, made by a witness in a judicial proceeding as
part of his evidence, either upon oath or in any form allowed by
law to be substituted for an oath, whether such evidence is given in
open court, or in an affidavit, or otherwise, such assertion being
known to such witness to be false, and being intended by him to
misled the court, jury, or person holding the proceeding.
• The procedure in dealing with cases mentioned u/s 191 of Indian
Penal Code, 1860 are dealt in Chapter XXVI of The Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973 under section 340.

Related IPC Sections
Section 285 in The Indian Penal Code
285. Negligent conduct with respect to fire or combustible matter.—
• Whoever does, with fire or any combustible matter, any act so
rashly or negligently as to endanger human life, or to be likely to
cause hurt or injury to any other person, or knowingly or
negligently omits to take such order with any fire or any
combustible matter in his possession as is sufficient to guard
against any probable danger to human life from such fire or
combustible matter, shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine
which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.

441. Criminal trespass.—Whoever enters into or upon property
in the possession of another with intent to commit an offence
or to intimidate, insult or annoy any person in possession of
such property, or having lawfully entered into or upon such
property, unlawfully remains there with intent thereby to
intimidate, insult or annoy any such person, or with intent to
commit an offence, is said to commit “criminal trespass”.
STATE AMENDMENT

436. Mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy
house, etc.—
Whoever commits mischief by fire or any explosive substance,
intending to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby cause,
the destruction of any building which is ordinarily used as a place of
worship or as a human dwelling or as a place for the custody of
property, shall be punished with 1[imprisonment for life], or with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten
years, and shall also be liable to fine.

435. Mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to cause
damage to amount of one hundred or (in case of agricultural produce)
ten rupees.—Whoever commits mischief by fire or any explosive
substance intending to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he will
thereby cause, damage to any property to the amount of one hundred
rupees or upwards 1[or (where the property is agricultural produce)
ten rupees or upwards], shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to seven years, and shall also
be liable to fine.

PUBLIC INTREST LITIGATION
(PIL)
Public interest Litigation (PIL) means litigation filed in a court of law,
for the protection of “Public Interest”, such as Pollution, Terrorism,
Road safety, Constructional hazards etc.
Any matter where the interest of public at large is affected can be
redressed by filing a Public Interest Litigation in a court of law.

(PIL)
• The seeds of the concept of public interest litigation were initially
sown in India by Justice Krishna Iyer, in 1976 in Mumbai Kamagar
Sabha vs. Abdul Thai.
• The first reported case of PIL was Hussainara Khatoon vs. State of
Bihar (1979) that focused on the inhuman conditions of prisons and
under trial prisoners that led to the release of more than 40,000
under trial prisoners.
• Right to speedy justice emerged as a basic fundamental right which
had been denied to these prisoners. The same set pattern was
adopted in subsequent cases.

(PIL)
• A new era of the PIL movement was heralded by Justice P.N. Bhagawati in
the case of S.P. Gupta vs. Union of India.
• In this case it was held that “any member of the public or social action group
acting bonafide” can invoke the Writ Jurisdiction of the High Courts (under
article 226) or the Supreme Court (under Article 32) seeking redressal
against violation of legal or constitutional rights of persons who due to
social or economic or any other disability cannot approach the Court.

(PIL)
• Public interest litigation is not defined in any statute or in any act. It
has been interpreted by judges to consider the intent of public at
large.
• Public interest litigation is the power given to the public by courts
through judicial activism.
• However, the person filing the petition must prove to the
satisfaction of the court that the petition is being filed for a public
interest and not just as a frivolous litigation by a busy body.

(PIL)
•The court can itself take cognizance of the matter
and proceed suo motu or cases can commence on
the petition of any public spirited individual.

(PIL)
Some of the matters which are entertained under PIL are:
• Bonded Labour matters
• Neglected Children
• Non-payment of minimum wages to workers and exploitation of
casual workers
• Atrocities on women
• Environmental pollution and disturbance of ecological balance
• Food adulteration
• Maintenance of heritage and culture

(PIL)
•A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and
Justice Girish S Kulkarni was hearing a public interest
litigation (PIL) filed by lawyer Neelima Vartak
through advocate Shekhar Jagtap, opposing the
suspension of funds for two years.
•The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said the central
government was well within its powers to have
suspended the MPLAD (Members of Parliament
Local Area Development) funds earlier this year and
divert the money to the fight against the Covid-19
pandemic.

(PIL)
•In April this year, the central government decided to
suspend all MPLADS funds — under which each
elected MP gets Rs 5 crore annually for development
work in his/ her constituency — for two financial
years starting April 1.
•The money from the MPLADS funds — nearly Rs
8,000 crore — will go to the Consolidated Fund of
India that the government said would be used in the
anti- Covid-19 effort.

(PIL)
• The plea sought directions to the government to resume
the MPLADS scheme to ‘protect citizens of respective
constituencies from adverse impact of the pandemic
situation as well as to ensure implementation of welfare
programmes and projects.’
• The bench however objected to the petitioner’s locus
standi in the case and said that if any of the
parliamentarians felt that they were unable to carry out
development programmes in their constituencies due to
suspension of MPLADS, they were free to approach the
court.

(PIL)
• The court said that the petitioner should have undertaken
some research and provided data to establish if the
suspension of such a scheme was adversely impacting the
citizens.
• “Everyone, including all MPs, are doing so much to
control Covid. When the entire nation is struggling, how
can you object to the suspension of MPLAD funds and
their diversion to combat Covid-19? This money is being
used to fight the pandemic and not to build bridges or
something that is not required right now,” the court said.

(PIL)
• The verdict came on a PIL by advocate Neelima Vartak,
who challenged the circular issued by Ministry of
Statistics and Program Implementation..
•Bombay High Court dismissed PIL challenging the
Centre's suspension and diversion of Members of
Parliament Local Development Fund(MPLADS Fund)
for two years to combat Pandemic.
•The fight against Covid-19 has to take centre stage,
said the Judge ..

court of law.pptx

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to court of law.pptx

Similar to court of law.pptx (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

court of law.pptx