LITERAL MEANING
The right to appear and be heard before a court
ORIGIN
LATIN
EXPLANATION
Locus Standi means the legal capacity to sue or approach courts. It tells about the right of a party to appear and be heard before a court of law or to institute a suit or an action before the court. The parties coming to the courts must have been aggrieved or deprived of their rights. Thus, in any legal process, the existence or presence of locus standi is important. Locus standi is the standing of a person in whom the right to legal action vests.
Any aggrieved person can approach the courts for a remedy. Locus standi is relaxed and made flexible in a Public Interest Litigation to expand the scope of litigation by considering the rights and issues of the marginalized and underprivileged.
Illustration
- A foreign government which has not been recognized by the Indian government has no locus standi in the Indian courts.
- Before an application for judicial review can be made, the applicant must prove that they have a locus standi.
CASE LAWS
Vaisakha vs. State of Rajasthan
This case played a crucial role in influencing the Parliament to enact the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Ac, 2013. In this case, a social activist was gang-raped for vengeance. All the accused were acquitted by the trial court. The state applied for a petition to the Supreme court under the name Vaisakha. The court laid down the guidelines to follow in workplaces to prevent sexual harassment.
Jasbhai Mothibi Desai vs. Roshan Kumar, Haji Bashir Ahmed,
The Bombay High Court has dismissed the writ petition on the ground that no right vested in the appellant had been infringed, or prejudiced or adversely affected as a direct consequence of the order impugned by him, and as such, he was not an aggrieved person’ having a locus standi in the matter.
M/S Northern Plastics Ltd vs. Hindustan Photo Films Mfg. Co. Ltd
It was observed by the Supreme Court that the wider concept of locus standi in public interest litigation moved before this Court under Article 32 of the Constitution of India which itself is a fundamental right or under Article 226 before High Courts which also offers a constitutional remedy cannot be imported for deciding the right of appeal under the statutory provisions contained in the Customs Act.
Also Read: Animus Nocendi
