public interest litigation

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Public litigation system or public interest litigation is litigation for public interest i.e., it is a case filed in the interest of the public by a representative of the public. PIL was started to protect the fundamental rights of people who are poor, ignorant or in socially/economically disadvantaged position. It is different from ordinary litigation, in that it is not filed by one private person against another for the enforcement of a personal right. The presence of 'public interest' is important to file a PIL. The first reported case of PIL in 1979 focused on the inhuman conditions of prisons and under trial prisoners.