KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (State and Political Obligations)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 3
2025 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 3 Political Science (State and Political Obligations) 2025 Jan 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 2025 Jan examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2025 Jan examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2025 Jan 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 meant by political obligation ? Explain the characteristics of political obligation.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what political obligation means, with a definition; its characteristics one by one (moral basis, a duty to a particular state, general, content independent, prima facie, mutual, graded by membership, positive and negative, resting on legitimacy, recognised in law); an Indian case showing how the obligation is graded between citizens and others (Mohammad Salimullah); and a conclusion.
Meaning
Political obligation means the duty of a person to obey the laws and lawful orders of the state in which he lives. It is the bond that ties the individual to the state. The question behind it is not whether the state can make people obey, but whether they ought to.
T. H. Green answered that the state rests on the willing acceptance of its people: "will, not force, is the basis of the state". So political obligation is a duty grounded in reason and conscience, not in fear alone.
Characteristics of political obligation
1. It has a moral basis. It is more than a legal duty. The legal duty is created by the statute; political obligation is the moral reason for obeying statutes at all. Fear of punishment explains why people comply, but not why they ought to.
2. It is owed to a particular state. A person owes it to his own state, or to the state he is living in, and not to every well-governed state in the world. An Indian owes obedience to Indian law, not to Japanese law.
3. It is general. It covers the whole body of law. A person may not obey only the laws he likes and ignore the rest.
4. It does not depend on the content of each law. A person is bound because the rule comes from the state, not because he agrees with it. The rule that vehicles keep to the left is binding although nothing makes the left better than the right.
5. It is prima facie, not absolute. It is a strong duty, but it can be outweighed by a stronger moral duty. A law that commands grave injustice does not bind in the same way. That is why civil disobedience is possible.
6. It is mutual. The citizen owes obedience, and the state owes protection, justice and welfare. When the state fails grossly in its part, its claim to obedience weakens.
7. It is graded by membership. Citizens owe full allegiance, including the duty to defend the country. Aliens owe local and temporary allegiance. They must obey the law while they are in the country. But they owe no duty to fight for it or take part in its politics.
8. It includes positive and negative duties. Some duties are to act, such as paying taxes or giving evidence. Others are to refrain, such as not committing violence or damaging public property.
9. It rests on legitimacy. People feel bound to a government they accept as rightful, for instance one chosen in free elections. A government seen as a mere usurper is obeyed only out of fear.
10. It is recognised in law. The Indian Constitution states the citizen's side in article 51A, the fundamental duties. They begin with the duty "to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem".
11. It changes with the idea of the state. Under absolute monarchy it meant loyalty to the king. In a democracy it rests on consent and participation. In a welfare state it is matched by the state's duty to provide for the people.
How it differs from mere obedience and legal duty
A person may obey from fear, habit or self-interest, and still have no sense of obligation. A person may also have a legal duty, written in a statute, without asking whether he ought to obey it. Political obligation is the moral judgment that he ought to obey because the state is entitled to command. Fear explains compliance; legal duty names what the law requires; political obligation explains why the law deserves to be followed. Keeping the three apart is the key to every question on this topic.
An Indian case on graded obligation
Mohammad Salimullah v. Union of India, AIR 2021 SC 1789. Rohingya refugees held in Jammu faced deportation to Myanmar. They argued that the principle against sending refugees back to danger is part of article 21. The Supreme Court agreed that the rights in articles 14 and 21 "are available to all persons who may or may not be citizens". But it held that "the right not to be deported" goes with the right to reside under article 19(1)(e), which only citizens have. It refused interim relief, while directing that they not be deported unless the prescribed procedure was followed. The case shows the grading at work. The non-citizen is protected in life and liberty and must obey the law. But his membership, and so his set of rights and obligations, is narrower than a citizen's.
Conclusion. Political obligation is the duty to obey the state's law because the state made it. Its characteristics are a moral basis, a tie to a particular state, generality and independence of content. It is also prima facie, mutual, graded by membership, made of positive and negative duties, and dependent on legitimacy. The Constitution recognises it in article 51A. Mohammad Salimullah shows that the obligation, and the rights that go with it, differ between citizens and others.
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