Legal pluralism is not much discussed outside of academic circles. Legal pluralism is a society in which multiple legal systems exist within the same geographical area.
This system still continues in former colonies, where colonial law and customary law (customary law and religious law) can coexist. Many developing countries, Bangladesh being one of them, have adopted modern legal concepts such as public interest litigation using legal pluralism for their own benefit. It cannot be said that public interest cases can be traced back to colonial sources. But it originated and evolved from the countries that colonized (US and UK).
Bangladesh Environment Lawyers Association (BELA) and Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) are altruistically working in public interest and conduct a flagship workshop every year. Bangladesh Supreme Court Appellate Division Judge Mr. Nizamul Haque Nasim retired, High Court Division Judge Mr. Md. Another workshop was held in the presence of Ashraful Kamal, Justice Mostafa Zaman Islam, university teachers and lawyers to train the new generation of lawyers. Some lawyers participated in it.
Justice CJ Mahajan of India gave a simple and clear definition of the term ‘public interest’. No precise definition of the concept of ‘public interest’ is possible, he wrote in State of Bihar v. Kameshwar. It has no fixed meaning, rather it is expansive and the term may have different interpretations in different countries. Thus the concept of ‘public interest’ has no pre-defined scope or boundary, within which only a subject matter can be considered to be of public interest. The context and circumstances of each case will determine whether its content is in the public interest.
Referring to public interest litigation as an important tool to establish the rule of law and protect the interests of the people, ALRD Executive Director Shamsul Huda said that the relationship between the rule of law and public interest litigation is the pulse. Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of BELA, said, “Women’s rights, protection of mountains, stopping stone quarrying, conservation of wild animals, prevention of corruption, land-children-handicapped rights are filed in public interest. We go to Supreme Court with public interest. Court is our last hope.’
The philosophy of public interest litigation sheds light on a different aspect of jurisprudence, which is why it is important for democracy. It is indisputable in fairness that the consideration whether a citizen of the State seeks a formal trial or not cannot be regarded as a bar to his access to justice.
Public interest litigation and the environment have almost become synonymous. Several landmark judgments on environmental issues have entered the precedents. Justice Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md. Ashraful Kamal’s bench 13989/2016 mentioned in the judgment of the writ petition, the issue of the life of the river.
In another case, the High Court opined that the legislature can enact new laws deeming ecocide (damage to ecosystems) unacceptable. The court also opined that ecocide should be included in the International Crimes Tribunal Act 1973. The high court on ecocide asked to take this step in the wake of international criminal law and global civil society activism. The bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam ordered the removal of the dam in Navganga river in Jhenaidah. This is how judges are playing a role in protecting the environment.
Dr. regarding FAP-20. In Mohiuddin Farooq’s case, the court opined that the environment and ecosystem should not be harmed. In an informal discussion, under the Public Trust Doctrine, natural resources (which are actually public property), should be emphasized in public interest cases, he opined. Saiful Karim, Professor University of Queensland, Australia.
In our country too, courts have opened the door to remedies with a horizontal approach. Rokeya Akta’s case is the first example of obtaining a remedy under Article 102(2) of the Constitution against a private organization using the concept or theory of horizontal enforcement of fundamental rights (vertical approach applicable against public bodies).
Despite various criticisms, there is no doubt that public interest litigation has extended the sense of civil rights to the general public in the wider society. A newer addition to jurisprudence is public interest litigation. Despite being relatively new, the judiciary, practitioners and jurisprudents jointly provide an effective assessment of remedies for public interest violations.
Integration is an essential feature of globalization. According to this theory of convergence, the supranational legal system will become a dream in this world. If the federal legal system is real, a humanitarian organization in Dublin for the drought-stricken people of Barendra region or a community in Johannesburg against a commercial eco-project that destroys the mountain dependent livelihood of the Mro ethnic group can file a public interest case seeking redress in a global forum like the International Court of Justice. It will promote global human rights.
There are still amazing people in this selfish world. Think about public interest. That’s why South Africa sued for Israel’s Gaza genocide. Imagine two scenes to capture public interest – when a father of a well-to-do family in Dhaka berates his child for not wanting to eat orange juice for breakfast, at the same time a Palestinian father in Gaza or Rafah paints the last kiss on the forehead of his beloved child wrapped in a shroud.