Continuing Mandamus in India: An Innovative Approach to Address the Executive Inertia and Ensure Justice in Practice

Paper Code: AIJACLAV11RP2026

Category: Research Paper

Date of Publication: Sep 10, 2026

Author Details

Advocate Fairy, Advocate

Continuing Mandamus in India: An Innovative Approach to Address the Executive Inertia and Ensure Justice in Practice

Abstract

The ‘Continuous Mandamus’ is a novel and in vogue judicial remedy by which a matter is kept open and pending. In other words, the Honourable Court keeps the matter sub judice, and as per the needs of the time and according to the applications filed under the same open matter, the Court keeps on passing ongoing orders and directions and supervises their enforcement and compliance over time. It has been widely issued in the public interest matters, especially when a Public Interest Litigation is filed, for instance, from the locus classicus case of M.C. Mehta v. Union of India (1985) on Delhi’s air pollution to the very recent case of Dr. Jaya Thakur v. Union of India (2026), recognising a fundamental right to menstrual health. This article aims to discuss the genesis and operation of continuous mandamus. It illustratively refers to some notable continuing mandamus matters. Further, it discusses the importance of this judicial tool in ensuring justice in practice by keeping a vigil on the implementation of the directions and orders so passed. Lastly, the article addresses the question of whether the use of continuing mandamus is an act of judicial overreach or a need of the hour to resolve the recalcitrant approach of the executive in the implementation of the orders.

Keywords: Continuous Mandamus, Public Interest Litigation, Supreme Court, Justice, Remedy.