On Monday, the Supreme Court sharply dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) that raised concerns about deadly accidents caused by poor public infrastructure. The case was heard by a bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi.

The Court noted a growing trend of young lawyers filing what it called “baseless petitions” mainly to get attention on social media instead of improving their legal skills. The PIL mentioned incidents such as a truck falling into an open pit on a badly maintained road, which led to fatal accidents.

The petitioner’s counsel, a lawyer with four years of practice, asked the Court to issue directions to deal with the nationwide neglect of civic infrastructure by authorities. However, CJI Surya Kant questioned why the lawyer had not first filed a direct complaint against the officials responsible instead of approaching the Court through a PIL.

He told the lawyer, “You better concentrate on the profession. This coming in national media should be stopped for those who want to be serious in the profession.”

The bench said the petition was “vague” and “evasive”. It also said the reliefs asked for were impractical and beyond what any court could enforce. Because of this, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition.

Case Details: Dushyant Sejwal vs. Union of India