Public Interest Litigation in Pakistan: Instrument of Reform or Tool of Judicial Expansion
This paper seeks to analyze the significance of public interest litigation (PIL) in Pakistan, whether it is a reform or judicial expansive instrument. PIL has gained prominence in challenging governance failures and upholding the rights of citizens, although it has also raised issues of judicial overreach into executive areas. The research involves a mixed approach, both the doctrinal legal study and qualitative content analysis of the PIL cases of the Supreme Court and the High Courts. The results indicate that although PIL may produce meaningful governance results such as policy reforms and regulatory measures, its enforcement in the long run tends to be patchy and needs additional judicial monitoring. The paper has concluded that PIL works best when imposing rights with limited, evidence-based cures but is problematic when it causes too much judicial regulation of governance. The paper recommends measured reforms to make PIL enhance, not weaken, democratic accountability.
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Public Interest Litigation; Pakistan; Judicial Activism; Separation of Powers; Article 184(3); Judicial Review; Governance Reform
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(1) Kamran Abdullah
Deputy Registrar, Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Cite this article
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APA : Abdullah, K. (2024). Public Interest Litigation in Pakistan: Instrument of Reform or Tool of Judicial Expansion. Global Regional Review, IX(I), 218-229. https://doi.org/10.31703/grr.2024(IX-I).19
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CHICAGO : Abdullah, Kamran. 2024. "Public Interest Litigation in Pakistan: Instrument of Reform or Tool of Judicial Expansion." Global Regional Review, IX (I): 218-229 doi: 10.31703/grr.2024(IX-I).19
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HARVARD : ABDULLAH, K. 2024. Public Interest Litigation in Pakistan: Instrument of Reform or Tool of Judicial Expansion. Global Regional Review, IX, 218-229.
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MHRA : Abdullah, Kamran. 2024. "Public Interest Litigation in Pakistan: Instrument of Reform or Tool of Judicial Expansion." Global Regional Review, IX: 218-229
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MLA : Abdullah, Kamran. "Public Interest Litigation in Pakistan: Instrument of Reform or Tool of Judicial Expansion." Global Regional Review, IX.I (2024): 218-229 Print.
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OXFORD : Abdullah, Kamran (2024), "Public Interest Litigation in Pakistan: Instrument of Reform or Tool of Judicial Expansion", Global Regional Review, IX (I), 218-229
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TURABIAN : Abdullah, Kamran. "Public Interest Litigation in Pakistan: Instrument of Reform or Tool of Judicial Expansion." Global Regional Review IX, no. I (2024): 218-229. https://doi.org/10.31703/grr.2024(IX-I).19