Development and Application of Public Interest Litigation (Pil): Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract

This thesis is about the development and application of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in Bangladesh from a constitutional perspective. To establish a democratic society free from exploitation guaranteeing the fundamental rights to be enforced is our constitutional commitment. This thesis analyses how PIL become an important component and effective part and process of the Bangladeshi legal system to establish rule of law and ensure access to justice, legal remedies and protection of basic human and fundamental rights and thus become a magnificent instrument to fulfil our constitutional commitment. In Bangladesh, PIL has been initiated in 1974 with Barubari case. But this initiation got a severe blow in martial law regimes in 1975 and 1982. After the brutal assassination of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahaman and his family members on 15th August 1975, the constitution was mostly suspended till 1986 and the judiciary could not act properly. But after the martial law regimes and the fall of autocracy in 1990, the development of PIL got acceleration. The Supreme Court began to reinterpret the Constitution in favour of PIL and gradually the concept of PIL started to take a shape. The judiciary with its extraordinary and mindful interpretation of PIL jurisprudence and the public-spirited citizens and the right based organizations with their tremendous and outstanding effort established the collective justice principle of the constitution which not only inspires but mandates a PTL approach. This thesis also discusses the concept and development of PILs in another foreign jurisdiction such as USA, UK, India and Pakistan. However, this thesis explores the application of PIL in Bangladesh. It analyses that how PIL has been applied in various cases of the violation of fundamental rights of the citizens or against the action or inaction of the government to perform its legal and statutory duties to protect and ensure citizen's constitutional and human rights. or in cases of abuse of power by the executive. This study also focuses on judicial interventions made through PILs into those matters where the administrative action caused discrepancy with the constitution. This thesis also analyses the application of PIL in shaping the institutions and policies of the government. The instant thesis also analyses the role of the judiciary and the NOGs in developing and applying PIL in Bangladesh. It also analyses the problems the PIL is facing in Bangladesh. It is found that the progress or the condition of implementation of judgments of PIL is not satisfactory in Bangladesh. Since the implementation of judgments and rulings of the PlL cases are largely depends upon the government machineries, it is really very difficult for PIL to proceed with the implementation of the same, if the government is deliberately unwilling to its implementation. Besides, the deep-rooted culture of impunity, fluctuation of Benches, over burden of court and its inability in monitoring, elitist nature of PIL, limitation of information etc. create serious impediment to get the best result of PIL. This thesis also analyses some ways which could mitigate the problems PIL faces in Bangladesh.