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Administrative Law

Semester 3 · 18 topics in 5 units

Past question papers for Administrative Law

Unit I 4 topics

  1. Administrative law: meaning, nature, scope, growth and sourcesWhat administrative law is, why it grew so fast in the twentieth century, where its rules come from, and how it differs from constitutional law.7 min
  2. Separation of powers and its bearing on administrative lawMontesquieu's doctrine, why India never adopted it rigidly, what the Supreme Court has said in Ram Jawaya Kapur, Indira Gandhi and Asif Hameed, and how the collegium and NJAC cases fit in.6 min
  3. Rule of law and droit administratifDicey's three meanings of the rule of law, the criticism of them, how the Indian Constitution builds the idea in, and the French system of droit administratif that Dicey set against it.6 min
  4. Classification of administrative actionRule-making, quasi-judicial, purely administrative and ministerial action: how to tell them apart, why the classification once decided everything, and why after Kraipak it matters less.6 min

Unit II 3 topics

  1. Delegated legislation: meaning, growth, merits and administrative directionsWhat delegated legislation is, its forms, the causes of its growth, its advantages and dangers, and how administrative directions differ from statutory rules.5 min
  2. Excessive delegation, conditional legislation and sub-delegationHow much legislative power Parliament may hand over, the essential-functions test from the Delhi Laws Act case to Gwalior Rayon, the Henry VIII clause, conditional legislation and the rule against sub-delegation, with the ADB loan problem.7 min
  3. Control of delegated legislation: parliamentary, procedural and judicialLaying and the Committees on Subordinate Legislation, publication and consultation, the grounds on which courts strike down rules, the 'as if enacted' clause, and the APMC newspaper problem.7 min

Unit III 4 topics

  1. Judicial power of the administration: quasi-judicial functions and administrative adjudicationWhen an administrative authority must act judicially, what administrative adjudication is, why it grew, the forms it takes, and the problems the Franks Committee and Indian courts identified.6 min
  2. The rule against biasNemo judex in causa sua: pecuniary, personal, official and policy bias, the reasonable-likelihood test from Manak Lal to Ranjit Thakur, the doctrine of necessity, and the contempt-in-the-face-of-the-court problem.7 min
  3. Audi alteram partem: the right to a fair hearingWhat a fair hearing requires (notice, disclosure, opportunity to answer, cross-examination, representation), how Maneka Gandhi tied it to Article 21, post-decisional hearing, and the mass-copying and no-notice problems.7 min
  4. Reasoned decisions, exceptions to natural justice, effect of breach and Article 136The duty to give reasons after Siemens and S.N. Mukherjee, when natural justice is excluded, whether a decision in breach is void or voidable, the prejudice test, and the grounds on which the Supreme Court interferes with quasi-judicial decisions under Article 136.7 min

Unit IV 4 topics

  1. Administrative discretion and its judicial reviewControl at the stage of grant (unguided discretion under Articles 14 and 19) and at the stage of exercise (abuse and non-exercise of discretion), with the police-permission and slum-notification problems.7 min
  2. Judicial control: public and private law remedies, writ procedure and ouster clausesThe difference between public law and private law remedies against the administration, suits for declaration, injunction and damages, section 80 CPC, writ procedure with certiorari in detail, and how courts read clauses that try to oust their jurisdiction.7 min
  3. Government contracts and state liability: the administrative-law angleWhat a government contract is, the heads of liability, and how Article 14 reaches into tenders, largesse, blacklisting and termination; constitutional tort as a public law remedy.6 min
  4. Promissory estoppel, legitimate expectation and proportionalityThree doctrines that limit how the administration may go back on its word or act out of proportion: Motilal Padampat and its limits, legitimate expectation from Navjyoti to Brahmputra Metallics, and proportionality from Ranjit Thakur to Om Kumar, with the tax-exemption problem.8 min

Unit V 3 topics

  1. Public corporations and public undertakings: status, classification, liability and controlWhy public corporations were created, their characteristics and legal status, how they are classified, the extent of their liability, and the ministerial, parliamentary, judicial and public controls over them.6 min
  2. Corruption, maladministration and the ombudsman: Lokpal and LokayuktaAdministrative deviance and the mechanisms that control it, the Scandinavian ombudsman, the Lokpal under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and the Karnataka Lokayukta under the Act of 1984.8 min
  3. Central Vigilance Commission, parliamentary committees and commissions of inquiryThe three remaining non-judicial controls on the administration: the CVC under the Act of 2003 and Vineet Narain, the financial and scrutiny committees of Parliament, and commissions under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 with the effect of their reports.8 min