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Heroes

Few people have used the Public Interest Litigation with more success than Bhagvanji Raiyani.Today, if you wish to speak up against injustice, you have options -and hope it trends. Post it on Facebook and hope it goes viral. And if you don’t mind dedicating a few weeks of your life to the cause, file an RTI query.But back in the 1980s, you had but two options - write a letter to the editor of a newspaper or file a Public Interest Litigation (PIL). While almost every literate Indian of that vintage was busy spamming hacks, people like Bhagvanji Raiyani bombed judges with PILs — with far better results than just seeing their names on dead trees.Raiyani, now 75, has filed 103 PILs since 1993, winning 45. Staggering as it is, his work’s magnitude becomes clear when you consider that: 1. a PIL takes about four years to receive a judgment, and 2. Raiyani often personally argues his case.“In one case,” says Raiyani at his modest Vile Parle office, “I faced a line-up of 37 top lawyers.”Raiyani was introduced to the power of PILs by the late MP Vashi, who practised in the Bombay High Court for 56 years and was an early PIL crusader. Raiyani, who was in the litigation-heavy construction business, became his friend.“MP Vashi was my guru,” says Raiyani, an engineer and architect by training. “He saw my interest and said I should put PILs to good use.”Raiyani’s first PIL was against the Vile Parle Kelavni Mandal, one of the city’s largest education trusts, for malpractices in junior college admissions. Ironically, Raiyani and wife Pravina are donor members of the Mandal, which controls Mithibai College among others. His militant zeal to reform the education sector has roots in his humble beginnings. “I came from a poor family, and always stood first in class,” he said. “During my inter-science years, the question papers were leaked. It just didn’t seem right after the hard work poor kids like me had put in. When papers of the 1996 SSCE exams leaked, it touched a cord. I filed a PIL demanding a re-exam, and won.”In fact, a majority of Raiyani’s PILs have to do with reforming the education and construction sectors, both of which he has a stake in. “I wanted to stay in the water while taking on the crocodile,” says Raiyani, tweaking the famous proverb. Despite being a builder himself, he stalled the transfer of development rights in Mumbai’s suburbs, which was placing a huge burden on inadequate infrastructure. While the stay was vacated in two years, something good did emerge. It was in this petition that the High Court set the cut off date for legal slums at January 1, 1995. “I lost the TDR case, though it is still pending before the SC,” says Raiyani. “But in losing, I also won. Setting the slum cut-off was a major decision for the city.”The demolition of 1,300 illegal shrines, restoration of the heritage Borivali and Madapeshwar caves, making the formation of PTA associations mandatory in schools, moving tabelas out of city limits, and getting the State to treble the number of lifeguards on our beaches are some of his talked-about victories.Raiyani, who wound up his construction business in 2007, is now focussed on judicial reforms. “I exited my business to concentrate on activism,” he says. “According to 2010 figures, there are 3.1 crore cases pending in India.”Raiyani has filed a PIL in the Supreme Court to increase the number of judges in the country five-fold. “A Supreme Court judge earns less than a civil servant. While I sent all my four daughters to the US for, I doubt a Supreme Court judge, who is expected to be clean, would manage to. This is one of the first corrections I’m keen to make.”Janhit manch, forum for fairness in education & forum for fast justiceFace behind itFiling 103 PILs in 20 years, many of them resulting in landmark judgments for the betterment of the cityHe is trying to reform the judiciary. He has good ideas, which I hope are implemented.retired Bombay High Court judgeMumbaiPart of Mumbai Mirror’s 8th anniversary celebrations, the Heroes campaign looks beyond everyday do-gooders and simple acts of kindness. This initiative will honour people or institutions that have decisively - and positively - changed Mumbai for the better. If you know a hero, tell us about them