Question

The term “Public Interest Litigation (PIL)” was first used by:

• A. Justice P.N. Bhagwati
• B. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer
• C. Prof. Abram Chayes
• D. Prof. Upendra Baxi

Hint:

Always distinguish between the pioneers of PIL in India (Justice Bhagwati and Iyer) and the person who coined the term (Prof. Abram Chayes).

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is a legal mechanism that allows individuals or groups to approach the court for the enforcement of the rights of the marginalized. While popularized in India by judges like P.N. Bhagwati, the term itself has a specific academic origin.

Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
- In the international legal context, the concept of "Public Interest Litigation" was famously articulated and named by the American legal scholar Professor Abram Chayes in his seminal article "The Role of the Judge in Public Law Litigation" (1976).
- While Indian judges like Justice P.N. Bhagwati and Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer are the architects of the PIL movement in India, the nomenclature itself is credited to Chayes.

Step 3: Final Answer:
The term "Public Interest Litigation" was first used by Prof. Abram Chayes. The correct option is (C).

Answer 2

The question separates two distinct things that are often confused, who is credited with coining the phrase Public Interest Litigation, and who built the PIL movement within the Indian judiciary.

1. Justice P.N. Bhagwati: He is one of the principal architects of PIL in India, relaxing rules of standing so that public-spirited individuals could approach the Supreme Court on behalf of those unable to do so themselves. His contribution is to the growth of the practice in India, not to the origin of the term itself.
2. Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer: Alongside Justice Bhagwati, he is credited with opening the doors of the higher judiciary to public interest cases through a liberal reading of locus standi. Like Bhagwati, his legacy lies in developing the Indian PIL jurisprudence, not in first using the expression Public Interest Litigation.
3. Prof. Abram Chayes: The phrase itself traces to American legal scholarship, where Chayes used and popularised the term in his influential writing on the changing role of judges in public law litigation during the 1970s. He is the source of the terminology later adopted and adapted in the Indian context.
4. Prof. Upendra Baxi: He is a respected Indian legal scholar who has written extensively on PIL and social action litigation in India, but he is not the person credited with first using the term.

Separating the coining of the term from the building of the movement shows that the Indian judges and Professor Baxi belong to the second category, while the term itself is traced to Professor Chayes.

Therefore, the correct answer is Prof. Abram Chayes.