Abstract: Public interest litigation is an innovative tool of judicial activism. India has borrowed this concept from the judicial system of USA. Although there was a system of conventional private litigation but this system was unable to cater the need of the entire population of India. This is the reason that PIL is introduced in Indian judicial system to achieve those goals that are not been achieved by traditional tools. There are a large number of populations in India which are not capable to approach judiciary through complex judicial procedure, so PIL work as window for those who are unable to reach via door. The journey of PIL has gone through many phases in India. This study is a humble attempt to go through this journey to analyze the achievements and pitfalls. From time to time higher judiciary has laid down several guidelines to stop the misuse of PIL. This study under the light of these guidelines, try to assess the success of PIL and also discuss various hindrances faced by the target group. This study is based on the secondary data in which research papers, judicial decision, court commentaries, news articles has been analyzed to find out drawbacks of PIL and provide few valuable suggestions for effective accessibility to justice by PIL.