PIL On farmer’s plight: Don’t want politics to shift to courts, says SC

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“The apprehension is that this (admitting PILs by parties) will shift politics to the courts. We do not want this,” remarked the bench while hearing arguments by advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for NGO ‘Swaraj Abhiyan’ which has filed a PIL on the plight of farmers in drought-hit states.

According to Bhushan, a court should not throw out a plea only because it has been filed by a political outfit and that larger public interest warranted a proper hearing.

But Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who represented the central government in this matter, contended that entertaining petitions by political parties could open a flood gate and that the court had no mechanism to judge if political gains are sought to be reaped out of legal proceedings.

Rohatgi said the application filed by ‘Swaraj India’ before the Election Commission for registration as a political party was pending. Bhushan, however, maintained that ‘Swaraj Abhiyan’ and ‘Swaraj India’ were separate entities and the former was not a political party.