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Judiciary plays an important role in upholding and promoting the rights of citizens in a country. Judical Activism can take many forms but 'technical' and 'juristic' are two important ones in all legal systems. Beyond these two forms is third form termed as social activism, a complex and challenging task facing the modern judiciary today, particularly in the developing countries. Judicial activism is the central feature of every political system that vests adjudicatory power in a free and independent judiciary. It is not an aberration but is a normal phenomenon and is bound to mature into judicial activism. It is a term used to describe the assertiveness of judicial power. A court engaged in altering the power relations to make them more equitable is positively activist and a court using its ingenuity to maintain the status quo in power relations is negatively activist. Judicial activism is a concept that originated in the US in 1947. It has been seen in India since 1970's, defined as the 'Emergency days'. The active role of the judiciary in upholding the rights of citizens and preserving the constitutional and legal system of the country is known as judicial activism. It carries 'public interest' dimension through 'private interest', which collectively go hand in hand. The basis of judicial activism is the interpretation of the law, the constitutional articles or provisions or the legality of any executive action, leading to extension of the scope of law or actionable jurisdiction. This entails, stepping into the domain of the executive. It may even cover, in its sweep, executive inaction, acts of omission, besides the acts of commission - either inadequately or wrongly. All normal interpretative functions of judiciary do not generally attract the appellation of 'activism' - some do. They depend on the nature, scope and thrust of the judgment - the reformatory zeal of the judge. Judicial activism is seen as a success in liberalizing access to justice and giving relief to disadvantaged groups, because of the efforts of justices V R Krishna Ayer and P N Bhagwati.