It is the right to file suit, which is given to a member of the public by the courts through judicial activism. It can be filed in High Court or directly in the Supreme Court. It is not necessary that the petitioner has suffered some injury of his own or has had personal grievance to litigate.
Public interest litigation is a right given to the socially conscious member or a public spirited NGO to espouse a public cause by seeking judicial course for redressal of public injury. Such injury may arise from breach of public duty or due to a violation of some provision of the constitution.
It is the device, by which public participation in judicial review of administrative action is assured. It is the effort of making judicial process little more democratic.