Petition Letter

Petition Letter

Petition Letter is a letter written to an authority or organisation, requesting a course of action for a certain cause. It is a type of formal request letter having affinities with persuasive letter. Petition letters are written for a multitude of reasons, i.e. - to reduce penalties from government, petition letter against a person, petition against a social crime, petition against suspension and any other issue considered by the public/individual as a social/personal cause. A petition letter is supported by a number of people who show their support with their signatures. A certain number of signatures are required before the letter of petition can be sent to the concerned authority for approval. Not all petitions have legal backings; those which require a legal status have to be approved from the parliament or any other authorised body. Petition letter is not to be confused with the ‘Petition’ used in the legal circle. In the matter of law, a petition is a request sought from a court seeking some sort of relief. It is also a title of legal pleading that initiates a case to be heard before a court.

Coming back to the original topic, a petition letter addressed to government or a parliament will have to follow certain government regulations before it can be reviewed and approved. If approved the petition will have a legal status. Those which do not require confirmation to the regulations have a moral and social force rather than legal force. This force nonetheless is as effective as a legal one and at times, more powerful. With the advent of Internet, the mode of petition has acquired a new form - internet petitions. These petitions are posted on certain websites. Those supporting the petition have to add their names, email addresses, physical address etc. to be counted as signatories. When targeted number of signatures have been collected these are sent to the concerned. Anyone can write a petition letter provided he/she is of certain age which varies throughout the World. Also known as e-petitions, these may not be accepted by all the countries. In spite of this shortcoming, they exert a lot of social and moral pressure on the concerned and this pressure is enough to initiate a desired action. Certain NGO’s use internet petitions wherein they inform about the petition to certain individuals to seek their support for certain social causes. It is a much easier and faster of way getting a petition passed as compared to the paper petition.

A petition letter may be sent to all or specific individuals so that they can sign it and post it to the concerned authority or to the sender. An individual or an organisation can also send a petition letter to the concerned authority for taking the required action provided that there is substantial support. A petition letter is a tool in the hands of the public with which they can resolve a minor or a major issue. It is an effective and a popular method of getting things done. Petition letter also communicate a problem, its nature, details and also the recommendations on how to remove it. They establish justice and enable a peaceful coexistence mostly because the voice of the people is being heard.