KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (State and Political Obligations)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 3
2019 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 3 Political Science (State and Political Obligations) 2019 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2019 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2019 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2019 Dec examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and one short note question is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answers should be written completely either in English or in Kannada.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)What is political obligation ? Explain the limitations of political obligation.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what political obligation is, with a definition and its basis; why it must have limits; the limitations, grouped as limits on the State's claim (its source, the constitution, inalienable rights, the purpose of the State, conscience, international law, the status of the person) and limits on the citizen's response (the order of remedies, the manner of resistance); the views of Locke, Green and Laski on where obedience ends; an Indian case affirming that life and liberty are inalienable (Puttaswamy, overruling ADM Jabalpur); and a conclusion.
What political obligation is
Political obligation is the moral duty of a member of a political community to obey its laws and support its lawful institutions. It is "political" because it is owed to the State. It is an "obligation" because it binds the conscience, not only the body.
It rests on reasons such as consent, the benefits the State gives, fairness to fellow citizens, and the common good. Because it rests on reasons, it reaches only as far as those reasons reach. That is why it has limits.
Why the obligation must be limited
An unlimited duty to obey would make every command right merely because the State gave it. History shows the danger. Slavery, apartheid and genocide were all carried out under law. A sound theory of political obligation must therefore say where obedience ends.
Limits on the State's claim
1. The source of authority. The duty is owed to a lawful government. A usurper who seizes power by force has might, but not the right to be obeyed.
2. The constitution. Where there is a written constitution, the State's power is itself limited. In India article 13 makes void any law that takes away or abridges fundamental rights. The courts can strike down such a law, and no one is bound by a void law.
3. Inalienable rights. Some rights belong to a person as a human being, not as a gift of the State. Life, personal liberty, dignity and freedom of conscience are of this kind. A command that destroys them cannot claim obedience.
4. The purpose of the State. The State exists for the security and welfare of its people. When it turns against that purpose, by persecuting a section of its people for instance, it loses the moral basis of its claim.
5. Conscience. No person is bound to commit a grave moral wrong, such as torturing a prisoner or killing the innocent, because an order says so. Article 25 of the Indian Constitution protects freedom of conscience.
6. International law. The Nuremberg trials followed the Second World War. Since then it has been accepted that an order from a superior does not excuse a crime against humanity. Some duties run to humanity, not only to one's own State.
7. The status of the person. The obligation is graded. A citizen owes loyalty and service. A foreigner owes obedience to the law while in the country, but not allegiance.
Limits on the citizen's response
The limitations do not license any kind of disobedience.
8. The order of remedies. In a constitutional democracy the citizen must first use lawful means: petition, the vote, the press and the courts. Disobedience is a last resort.
9. The manner. Where disobedience is justified, it must be open, non-violent and willing to accept the penalty. Gandhi and King both insisted on this.
Where the great thinkers drew the line
Locke held that government is a trust. When rulers betray it by a long train of abuses, power returns to the people.
Green held that obedience is owed because the State maintains the conditions of a moral life. A law that destroys those conditions loses its claim, but the citizen must weigh the harm resistance does to social order.
Laski held that the State's claim depends on what it achieves for its members, and "We are the judges of that achievement".
An Indian case: life and liberty are inalienable
Justice K. S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, AIR 2017 SC 4161. A nine-judge bench held that privacy is protected as part of the right to life and personal liberty under article 21. In doing so, Chandrachud J examined the Emergency decision in ADM Jabalpur. That case had held that no one could go to court for personal liberty while article 21 was suspended. He said the majority judgments were "seriously flawed" and that "Life and personal liberty are inalienable to human existence". He declared that ADM Jabalpur "must be and is accordingly overruled", and Kaul J agreed. The case marks a limit on political obligation. Even in an emergency, the State cannot demand that citizens give up the core of life and liberty.
Conclusion. Political obligation is the duty to obey a lawful State, and it reaches only as far as its reasons. Seven things limit it. They are the source of authority, the constitution, inalienable rights, the purpose of the State, conscience, international law and the status of the person. The citizen, in turn, must use lawful remedies first and resist only openly and non-violently. Puttaswamy shows the Indian Constitution treating life and liberty as beyond the State's power to take away at will.
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