KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (Public Administration)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 4
2016 Jun Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Political Science (Public Administration) 2016 Jun 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 2016 Jun examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2016 Jun examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2016 Jun 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 100 · 13 questions answered
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.
Q1Define 'Public and Private Administration' and distinguish them.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: definitions of public administration (Wilson, 1887; White, 1926; Willoughby, 1927) and of private administration (the management of a privately owned enterprise, chiefly for profit, answerable to its owners; Taylor's statement of the object of management, 1911); what the two share (Fayol's view that management belongs to "all undertakings"; Gulick's POSDCORB, 1937); how they differ, organised by Appleby's three marks of government (1945): breadth of scope, impact and consideration; public accountability; political character; and the further differences of law, equality, finance, profit, monopoly and personnel; a comparison table; how the line between them has blurred (the TVA, 1933; public corporations; CSR under section 135 of the Companies Act 2013); a conclusion.
Defining public administration
Woodrow Wilson (1887): "Public administration is detailed and systematic execution of public law. Every particular application of general law is an act of administration."
L. D. White (1926): "Public administration is the management of men and materials in the accomplishment of the purposes of the state."
W. F. Willoughby (1927): in the broadest sense, administration "denotes the work involved in the actual conduct of governmental affairs, regardless of the particular branch of government concerned". In the narrowest, it denotes "the operations of the administrative branch only".
In short, public administration is the work of carrying out the laws and policies of the State through public agencies. It works under political direction and public accountability. The word also names the academic study of that work.
Defining private administration
Private administration is the management of an enterprise owned by private persons, such as a company, a firm, a private hospital or a private school. It is carried on chiefly for profit, or at least for the purposes chosen by its owners, and it answers to them. F. W. Taylor (1911) stated the object of such management as "to secure the maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for each employee".
In short, private administration is the organised management of a privately owned enterprise for the goals of its owners, usually profit. It must stay within the limits of the law.
What they share
Both are forms of administration, and many of their techniques are the same. Henri Fayol held that management "plays a very important part in the government of undertakings: of all undertakings, large or small, industrial, commercial, political, religious or any other". Luther Gulick's POSDCORB, planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting, describes the work of a chief executive in either sector. Both use hierarchy, specialisation, accounts and personnel management. A trained accountant or engineer can work in either.
How they differ: Appleby's three marks
Paul Appleby, in Big Democracy (1945), wrote that "government is politics". He said government differs from all other institutions by three complementary aspects: "breadth of scope, impact, and consideration; public accountability; political character".
1. Breadth of scope, impact and consideration. Government deals with the whole society. Its decisions on taxes, policing, health or education touch every citizen, including those who never chose to deal with it. It must consider every interest affected. A private firm deals only with its own customers, suppliers and staff, and can choose them.
2. Public accountability. A public official answers to the minister, the legislature, the courts, the auditor and the public. Under Article 75(3), the Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha. Under Articles 148 and 151, the Comptroller and Auditor-General audits public accounts and reports to Parliament. Any citizen can seek records under the Right to Information Act 2005. A private manager answers mainly to the board and the shareholders, and his records are largely private.
3. Political character. Public administration works under elected politicians and must respond to public opinion, elections and party programmes. Private administration works under owners and the market.
Further differences
4. Legal framework. Public officials may do only what the law permits. A private manager may do anything the law does not forbid.
5. Equality and uniformity. Article 14 requires equality before the law, so public services must treat like cases alike and follow uniform rules. A private firm may give different terms to different customers.
6. Finance. Public spending comes from taxes and needs legislative approval. Under Article 114, no money may be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund except by an appropriation law. A private firm raises money from owners, lenders and sales, and its managers can move funds quickly between uses.
7. Profit and purpose. Public administration aims at public welfare and may run services at a loss, such as free schooling. Private administration normally aims at profit.
8. Monopoly. Many public services, such as policing, courts and passports, have no competitor. A citizen who is badly served at the passport office cannot go to a rival. Most private businesses face competition, and a dissatisfied customer can take his money elsewhere.
9. Personnel. Public servants are recruited under rules made under Article 309, usually through Public Service Commissions, and protected by Article 311. Private employees are hired and dismissed under contracts and labour laws.
10. Measurement of success. Profit gives a business a clear measure. Public success, such as safety or literacy, is harder to measure. A police station that prevents crime leaves little to count, while a business that sells more shows it in its accounts.
An example
Compare a government hospital with a private one. Both need doctors, nurses, stores, accounts and a manager, so the techniques of administration are shared. But the government hospital must admit every patient who comes, charge low or no fees and follow rules on purchase and recruitment. It also answers questions in the legislature and requests under the RTI Act. The private hospital may choose its patients and fix its charges. It can also hire staff on its own terms and answer to its owners. The work looks alike, but the setting makes it different.
Comparison table
| Point | Public administration | Private administration |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | The State | Private persons |
| Main aim | Public welfare | Profit or owners' goals |
| Answers to | Legislature, courts, public | Board and shareholders |
| Law | May do only what law allows | May do what law does not forbid |
| Treatment | Equal and uniform | May differ by customer |
| Finance | Taxes, voted by legislature | Owners, loans, sales |
| Competition | Often a monopoly | Usually competitive |
| Staff | Service rules, Articles 309 to 311 | Contracts and labour law |
| Success | Hard to measure | Measured by profit |
The blurring line
The two have moved closer. In 1933, President Roosevelt proposed the Tennessee Valley Authority as "a corporation clothed with the power of Government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise". Public corporations in India, such as the Damodar Valley Corporation (1948), follow that model. Private companies, in turn, take on public duties. Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 applies to companies above certain limits of net worth, turnover or profit. They must spend at least 2 per cent of their average net profits on corporate social responsibility. Governments also contract work to private firms and borrow business methods, as the New Public Management urged.
Why the distinction matters
The distinction is not only academic. If public administration were simply business, governments could be judged by profit, and loss-making services for the poor would be closed. Because it is different, it is judged by fairness, legality and public welfare as well as by efficiency. At the same time, the shared techniques mean that public offices can learn from good private management without giving up their public character.
Yet the core differences remain. However business-like a government office becomes, it still answers to the public, works under law and politics, and must treat every citizen equally.
Conclusion. Public administration is the execution of public law and the management of the State's purposes, in Wilson's and White's words. Private administration is the management of a privately owned enterprise for its owners' goals, usually profit. They share the techniques of management that Fayol and Gulick described. They differ in Appleby's three marks of government: breadth of scope and impact, public accountability and political character. They also differ in law, equality, finance, purpose, monopoly, personnel and the measurement of success. Public corporations and corporate social responsibility have blurred the line, but they have not removed it.
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