New Delhi: There are currently 2,880 public interest litigations (PILs) with allegations of violation of fundamental rights pending in the Supreme Court, law minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha.
The minister, in a written reply to a query, said about 3,036 such PILs have been filed since 2019.
Giving further details on PILs related to fundamental rights pending in various high courts, Rijiju said the Punjab and Haryana HC has the highest 1,312 PILs pending as of 24 July, followed by the HCs of Madras and Rajasthan with over 1,100 PILs each.
According to the minister, 1,176 PILs were filed in the SC in 2019, which went up to 1,319 in 2020 and 541 in the first seven months of this year. Rijiju said the total pending PILs in the apex court is 2,879 as of July 23.
While the high courts of Allahabad, Delhi, Kerala, Punjab & Haryana and Bombay said they don’t maintain a separate databank on PILs regarding violation of fundamental rights, the Calcutta HC said 204 PILs had been filed on the subject since 2019; six in the Chhattisgarh HC; 77 in Gujarat HC; 165 in the Gauhati HC; 646 in the Andhra Pradesh HC; 68 in the J&K HC and 630 in Rajasthan HC.
Responding to another question related to electoral reforms, Rijiju said proposals on “quadruple qualifying dates for registration of voters against the single date available as of now and ban on display of election matter 48 hours before the close of poll in media” are under consideration of the government. Times of India
