3 of 100 marks
AIBE 22: Administrative Law
This subject carries 3 marks of the 100-mark paper — one of the lighter subjects, but still free marks if you tab it properly. Section 45 has 29 questions on it, four times the official count.
What to carry, and where to tab
Bring the Constitution of India, unmarked. Blank index tabs only — anything written on a tab can get the book confiscated. These are the parts this subject actually draws from:
- Administrative Law
- Administrative Law — Bias
- Administrative Law — Classification of Functions
- Administrative Law — Delegated Legislation
- Administrative Law — Grounds of Review
- Administrative Law — Natural Justice
- Administrative Law — no bare act; carry a reference list
- Art. 213 — Ordinance-making Power
- Art. 310, 311
- Constitution, Part XIVA
- Grounds of Judicial Review
- Legitimate Expectation
Provisions that recur
- Natural justice
- Natural justice / Art. 14, 21
- Administrative Law
- Art. 14
- Administrative Law / Art. 14
- Art. 323A, 323B
- § 7 RTI Act 2005
- Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013
- Natural justice / Art. 14
Sample questions
Three of the 29, with full explanations. The first ten are free in the app.
The maxim 'nemo judex in causa sua' means:
- Justice delayed is justice denied to the party wronged
- Let the decision stand once it has been made
- No one shall be a judge in his own cause
- Hear the other side before deciding against it
Answer & explanation
No one shall be a judge in his own cause
This is the rule against bias, one of the two limbs of natural justice. The test is whether there is a real likelihood or reasonable apprehension of bias in the mind of a reasonable person.
'Audi alteram partem' requires:
- Reasons to be recorded and communicated after the decision is taken
- Notice and a fair opportunity to be heard before an adverse decision
- A right of appeal to a higher authority against every adverse order
- Publication of the decision so that affected persons may learn of it
Answer & explanation
Notice and a fair opportunity to be heard before an adverse decision
Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) extended natural justice to administrative actions affecting rights. The rule may be excluded in cases of genuine urgency or where a statute expressly so provides.
The doctrine of ultra vires means:
- An act once taken cannot be reviewed by any court on the merits
- An act beyond the powers conferred by law is invalid
- An act done in good faith remains valid despite a defect of power
- An act of a superior authority prevails over one of a subordinate
Answer & explanation
An act beyond the powers conferred by law is invalid
Substantive ultra vires concerns the scope of the power; procedural ultra vires concerns non-compliance with a mandatory procedural requirement in exercising it.
Practise
Ten questions in Administrative Law free, no card. Each answer cited to both codes with a line telling you where to look in the bare act.
Practise Administrative Law