Don't Chase Media Attention By Filing Baseless PILs; Focus On Profession In Initial Years : Supreme Court To Young Lawyers

The Supreme Court on Monday cautioned young lawyers against filing public interest litigations merely to attract media attention, while dismissing a petition seeking directions to prevent deaths caused by alleged “civic negligence”.

The Court advised that during the initial years, youngsters should focus on the profession by working in offices to learn law and drafting.

A bench comprising the Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi made the remarks while hearing a PIL which sought directions to curb incidents of foreseeable deaths caused by failures in maintaining public infrastructure.

During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioner submitted that the expression “civic negligence” referred to the failure of public authorities to maintain basic civic infrastructure. She told the Court that a compilation of incidents had been placed on record, including cases where accidents occurred due to hazardous public conditions such as open pits on roads. Referring to one such instance, she mentioned a case where a truck had run into an open pit.

The Chief Justice asked the counsel why a complaint had not been filed against the concerned authorities in the specific instance instead of approaching the Court through a PIL.

In response, the counsel said the issue had become a “national issue” and was not confined to a single incident.

The Chief Justice then asked the counsel how long she had been in legal practice. When she responded that she had been practising for four years, the CJI advised young members of the Bar to spend time learning the profession under seniors instead of filing petitions merely to gain publicity.

"So you better concentrate on the profession, this coming in National Media - that should be stopped for those who want to be serious in the profession, and I am very conservative and very strong in these things. Instead of working in offices, learning law, you are drafting baseless petitions, only because you will come in social media."

The bench proceeded with dismissing the petition, noting that "the instant writ petition has been vague, evasive and with wide averments, seeking directions which are unmanageable. No reason to entertain the PIL."

Case Details : DUSHYANT SEJWAL vs. UNION OF INDIA| W.P.(C) No. 000270 / 2026