Judicial Activism and Administrative Corruption

In the recent past, it has been seen that the judiciary has taken a proactive role in espousing the poor and needy sections of society through Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and by taking the suo-motto cognizance. Judicial activism has taken roots in India around 1975 after the period of Emergency, though the term was first coined in 1945 by Arthur Schlesinger in America.

When the executive and legislature has dilated on discharging their duties, the Supreme Court had no other choice but to step in and direct them to fulfil their obligations, which was termed as judicial activism. PIL is said to be the backbone of judicial activism because it helps the judiciary to perform a more active role along with giving an additional opportunity to the people. Articles 13, 32,226,141,142 of our constitution play a very important role in judicial activism. Cases like Jain Hawala, Fodder scam, The Taj Corridor, 2G scam and the recent case of Peoples Representation Act whose Section 8(4) has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court shows that how judiciary had played a very crucial role in containing administrative corruption. This paper traces the importance of judicial activism and its role in controlling administrative corruption.