The first statement claims that Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer was the Chief Justice of India. This is incorrect. Justice Iyer served as a judge on the Supreme Court of India but he was never the Chief Justice of India. Therefore, the first statement is untrue.

The second statement is that Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer is considered as one of the progenitors of public interest litigation (PIL) in the Indian judicial system. This statement is indeed correct. Justice Iyer played a crucial role in the development of public interest litigation, allowing courts to intervene on behalf of the public interest, and his progressive judgments have been influential in Indian jurisprudence.

Consequently, only the second statement is true. Hence, option 2, which asserts that only statement 2 is correct, is the right answer.