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General Studies 2024 GS Paper II 15 marks 250 words Compulsory Explain

GS Paper II — Q14

Explain the reasons for the growth of public interest litigation in India. As a result of it, has the Indian Supreme Court…

Explain the reasons for the growth of public interest litigation in India. As a result of it, has the Indian Supreme Court emerged as the world's most powerful judiciary ? (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks

हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें

भारत में जनहित याचिकाओं के बढ़ने के कारण स्पष्ट कीजिए। इसके परिणामस्वरूप, क्या भारत का उच्चतम न्यायालय दुनिया की सबसे शक्तिशाली न्यायपालिका के रूप में उभरा है ? (उत्तर 250 शब्दों में लिखिए)

Q14 of the 2024 UPSC Mains General Studies GS Paper II, as printed
The question as printed in the 2024 General Studies paper
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Model answer

Written by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 250-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key.

Public interest litigation (PIL) grew in India because ordinary citizens, especially the poor, lacked practical access to courts despite constitutional guarantees. After the Emergency, the Supreme Court, in S.P. Gupta (1981) and later PIL jurisprudence, relaxed strict locus standi, allowing any public-spirited person to invoke Article 32. This judicial innovation responded to executive and legislative failure, and the absence of effective statutory remedies, to protect socio-economic and environmental rights: Article 21 was expanded to include clean environment, health, safety and livelihood, while Article 32 became a vehicle for continuing mandamus. Cases such as Bandhua Mukti Morcha and M.C. Mehta show how the Court filled gaps in labour and environmental governance. Social activism, expanding media and civil-society mobilisation further enabled marginalised groups to frame grievances as constitutional claims.

However, calling the Supreme Court the world’s most powerful judiciary in a federal democracy overstates its position. Compared with the US, where political question doctrine and federalism limit judicial intervention, or the UK, where parliamentary sovereignty constrains courts, the Indian Court is unusually activist. Yet its power is structural, not absolute: it depends on executive implementation, lacks independent enforcement machinery, and faces criticism for judicial overreach, dilution of PIL through frivolous petitions, and policy-making beyond its competence.

Thus PIL has made the Court a transformative guardian of rights, but it is best described as one of the most activist judiciaries, not the most powerful, because its authority remains bounded by institutional limits, separation of powers and implementation realities.

What "Explain" is asking you to do

Make the working of something clear — what sets it off, what follows from what, and what it produces. Explain is the Commission's mechanism word: it dominates the technical papers and the “explain why” stems, where the marks sit in the causal chain and not in the label.

Structure that answers it

State what it is → the initiating condition → the chain of cause, step by step → an instance where it plays out → what the chain produces

Where marks are lost

Describing what something looks like instead of why it works that way. Naming the stages without linking them reads as description too.

All UPSC directive words, compared →

How this answer will be evaluated

Approach

Framework: GS2 Paper 2: Constitutional & Judicial Governance. explain: definition/context > points in order > small example > short close Full marks: Balanced analysis of PIL's constitutional basis and its impact on judicial power.

Key points expected

  • Cite Article 32/226 as the constitutional basis for PIL
  • Identify specific landmark judgments (e.g., SP Gupta, MC Mehta)
  • Analyze the shift from 'locus standi' to public interest
  • Critically evaluate the 'most powerful judiciary' claim

Evaluation rubric

Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.

  1. The answer Contextualize PIL growth and evaluate the resulting expansion of judicial power. 15 marks · 250 words

    explain— definition/context → points in order → small example → short close

    Must cover

    • Cite Article 32/226 as the constitutional basis for PIL
    • Identify specific landmark judgments (e.g., SP Gupta, MC Mehta)
    • Analyze the shift from 'locus standi' to public interest
    • Critically evaluate the 'most powerful judiciary' claim

    Loses marks

    • Reciting Articles without linking to PIL
    • Activist tone without critical analysis
    • Ending without a balanced conclusion

    Earns more

    • Mention the role of the 42nd Amendment
    • Discuss the concept of 'Judicial Activism'
    • Reference the 'Basic Structure' doctrine
    • Mention the 'Writ Jurisdiction' expansion

    Extra mark

    • Cite the 13th Law Commission Report
    • Reference the 'Vishaka Guidelines' judgment

Practice this exact question

Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.

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