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14 Socio-Legal Rev. 170 (2018)
Anticorruption by Fiat: Structural Injunctions and Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court of India

handle is hein.journals/soclerev14 and id is 198 raw text is: ANTICORRUPTION BY FIAT: STRUCTURAL INJUNCTIONS AND PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA -Dr. Chintan Chandrachud* Structural injunctions - where the court issues a series of interim orders over a period of time in an effort to stimulate institutional reform - are about as old in India as public inter- est litigation (PIL) itself They are now virtually the default remedy in PILs at the Supreme Court. This article focuses on how structural injunctions were deployed in two politically sali- ent cases during the United Progressive Alliance government between 2004 and 2014 - the 2G Spectrum case and the Coalgate case. A close examination of these cases reveals a broader picture not just about the state of PIL and the use of structural injunctions, but also about the perception and pop- ular legitimacy of the Supreme Court in India's constitutional democracy. Introduction ................ The rise of public interest litigation and structural injunctions in India .......... Anticorruption, one order at a time - the 2G Spectrum and Coalgate cases .......... Background ..................... Control disguised as monitoring ....... Orders without reasons .............. 170 171 176 176 178 181 Populism and legitimacy: from the Forbes list to caged parrots ............... 183 Press reports of the Court's observations 183 The Court's self-imposed jurisdictional limits......................... 186 Public perception and the Court's popularity ....................... 187 Conclusion ........................... 188 Associate, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, London. I am grateful to Mrinali Komandur and John Simte from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore for research assistance. An anonymous reviewer offered helpful comments on an earlier draft. All errors are mine.