Courting Development

India s activist judiciary has carved out a space in which to participate in India s pursuit of the constitutional promise of socio-economic development. By examining the relationship between citizens, social activists, and the higher judiciary through India s distinct form of public interest litigation, as well as by looking at the ways in which activist groups/individuals utilize relaxed rules of standing established by the Supreme Court to benefit subaltern groups, we see that India s innovative form of public interest litigation is actually a creative exercise in deliberative democracy and development. This process is one that creatively tackles some of the problems of access that arise in a society plagued with poverty as well as caste, class and gender discrimination. This book focuses on how the Supreme Court of India has used public interest litigation in order to pursue development in the areas of indigenous land rights, women s rights, and labor rights. This study should appeal to those scholars, activists, and professionals working in the fields, of sociology, law, development, and political science.