New Delhi, March 9 While dismissing a plea seeking directions to prevent deaths caused by alleged civic negligence, the Supreme Court cautioned young lawyers on Monday against filing public interest litigations (PILs) merely to seek media publicity.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi advised a young lawyer to focus on their profession in the initial years of practice and learn law and drafting skills.
"So, you should focus on the profession. Getting attention in the National Media should be stopped for those who want to be serious about their profession, and I am very conservative and strong on these matters. Instead of working in offices and learning law, you are drafting baseless petitions, simply because you want to appear on social media," the CJI remarked.
The top court dismissed the plea, stating that it was "vague, evasive, and contained wide averments seeking directions that are unmanageable. There is no reason to entertain this PIL."
At the outset, while examining the PIL which sought directions to curb incidents of foreseeable deaths caused by failures in maintaining public infrastructure, the bench asked the petitioner's counsel why a complaint had not been filed against the concerned authorities in the specific instance instead of approaching the court through a PIL.
The counsel replied that the issue had become a "national issue" and was not confined to a single incident.
The Chief Justice questioned the counsel as to how long she had been practicing law.
To which the counsel replied that she had been practicing for four years.
The CJI then advised young lawyers to spend time learning the profession under senior lawyers instead of filing petitions merely for publicity.