Prime Minister I. K. Gujral's remarks on public interest litigation in an interview to this newspaper need to be taken seriously by all thoughtful people. He was unwilling to speak at length on the matter but said enough to make it clear where he stands. He is unhappy with the current situation in which courts across the country are generous to a fault in admitting public interest petitions. He agrees corruption must be eradicated from public life but questions whether the present process is the best solution. Indeed, he fears, the remedy may be worse than the disease. His particular concern is that misuse of PIL and the rise of a ``super-institution'' create conditions for the destabilisation and subversion of the democratic system. Strong words, even if delivered, off the cuff, in answer to a question.

Judicial activism and the profligate recourse to PIL have engaged the attention of the country for some time without any clear idea emerging of where the weight of informed opinion lies. Union Law Minister Ramakant Khalap's clumsy counter-measures have only managed to muddy the picture further. Thus when someone as sober as Gujral and, it should be said, one of the few politicians with a clean record in office speaks of how vulnerable government policies have become to litigation by malcontents, it is bound to give a second wind to the debate. And this is necessary. It has been too easy to dismiss criticism of the PIL process as self-serving noises from politicians or vested interests. At the same time it has been hard to hit on ways of restricting access to PIL which do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. A way must be found of getting rid of one monster without setting up another, of maintaining free access to the courts for genuine public interest suits without paralysing the government altogether with frivolous or mala fide litigation.

The power and immunity of corrupt politicians and officials have grown beyond anything that is tolerable. Apart from Gujral, many thoughtful people are suggesting now the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction and the executive is being prevented from performing its normal duties. While the debate is resumed, the Prime Minister might give some attention to what has precipitated this situation. He will find it boils down to the old question of public accountability. Politicians have become less and less answerable for their acts of corruption and the kind of policies they pursue; they flout norms and procedures at will and hide from public scrutiny behind the Official Secrets Act or executive privilege. Given all this, it is inevitable people will turn to other organs of the state for remedies. When ministries make rules which work at cross-purposes, paralysis is brought about, in the first instance, by policy failures, not judicial rulings. Politicians have displayed a genius for escaping the net of anti-corruption laws and stalling and watering down new legislation. But Gujral is right; the country does not need ``super-institutions'' to bring them to book. A tough Lok Pal, functioning under clear-cut rules, ought to do the job.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.