KSLU Solved Question Papers
Administrative Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2019 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Administrative Law 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 short note/problem is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
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)Explain the reasons for the growth of administrative law.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what administrative law is; the shift from the police State to the welfare State as the main cause; the other factors (limits of the legislature, limits of the courts, technical matters, speed and flexibility, industry and planning, emergencies, the need to protect the citizen); the Indian setting under the Constitution; Ram Jawaya Kapur, Delhi Laws Act and Kraipak explained; a conclusion.
What administrative law is
Administrative law is the law about the powers of the administration and the control of those powers. It tells us what powers officials have, how they must use them, and what a citizen can do when they are misused.
Its growth is a story of two things happening together. The State took on more work, so officials received more power. The law then grew to keep that power in check.
Factor 1: the police State became a welfare State
In the nineteenth century the State did little. It kept order, defended the country, collected taxes and ran the courts. This is called the laissez-faire or police State, which means a State that leaves social and economic life to private people.
The modern State is a welfare State. It runs schools and hospitals, builds roads, supplies electricity, controls prices, gives licences, regulates factories and protects workers. In India the Directive Principles in Part IV, such as Article 38 on social, economic and political justice, require this. Every new duty needs officials with powers. Administrative law grew with those powers.
Factor 2: the legislature cannot make every rule
Parliament and the State Legislatures meet for a limited time. They cannot write every detail of a law on drugs, fertilisers or electricity. So they lay down the policy and leave the details to the executive. This is delegated legislation, meaning rules made by the executive under power given by a statute. It needs rules of its own, and those rules are part of administrative law.
Factor 3: the ordinary courts are slow and costly
Courts follow strict procedure. They are expensive and take years. A worker who is dismissed or a trader whose licence is cancelled needs a quick and cheap decision. So the State created tribunals and other bodies to decide such disputes. This is administrative adjudication, and it too needed rules of fairness.
Factor 4: technical problems need experts
Many modern questions are technical. Fixing a tariff, testing a drug or allotting a radio frequency needs expert knowledge. Judges and legislators are not experts in these fields. The work therefore goes to expert departments and boards.
Factor 5: speed, flexibility and prevention
The administration can act quickly. It can change a rule when conditions change, without passing a new Act. It can also act before harm is done, by refusing a licence or inspecting a factory. Courts act only after the harm. This preventive role made administrative power grow.
Factor 6: industry, cities and planning
Industrialisation and the growth of cities created problems of housing, transport, pollution and labour. In India the Five Year Plans and the public sector made the State a trader and an employer. Public corporations such as the Life Insurance Corporation were set up by statute to run these activities.
Factor 7: emergencies and war
War, famine, floods and epidemics require quick orders on supplies, prices and movement. Laws such as the Essential Commodities Act 1955 give officials wide powers for this purpose.
Factor 8: the citizen needs protection
More power means more chance of misuse. Administrative law therefore grew a second side. It developed natural justice, judicial review of discretion, the writs under Articles 32 and 226, and bodies such as the Lokayukta.
The leading cases
Rai Sahib Ram Jawaya Kapur v. State of Punjab, AIR 1955 SC 549. The Punjab Education Department took over the printing and sale of school text books. Private publishers said this could not be done by executive order without a law. The Supreme Court held that executive power is "the residue of governmental functions that remain after legislative and judicial functions are taken away". The State could carry on such welfare activity, subject to the Constitution. The case shows the reach of the modern executive.
In re The Delhi Laws Act, 1912, AIR 1951 SC 332. On a Presidential reference, seven judges considered laws that let the Government extend other enactments to Delhi and other areas. The majority upheld delegation of this kind, but held that the legislature cannot hand over its essential function of laying down policy. The case accepted delegated legislation as a necessity of modern government.
A.K. Kraipak v. Union of India, AIR 1970 SC 150. A selection board for the Indian Forest Service included a candidate, who sat while his rivals were assessed. The Supreme Court set the selection aside for bias. Hegde J said, "In a welfare State like ours it is inevitable that the jurisdiction of the administrative bodies is increasing at a rapid rate." He added that the rule of law would lose its vitality unless officials act fairly. This sentence states both sides of the growth.
The two sides of the growth
| Growth of power | Growth of control |
|---|---|
| delegated legislation | publication, laying and judicial review of rules |
| tribunals and adjudication | natural justice and appeal to the High Court |
| wide discretion | review for abuse of discretion |
| public corporations | Article 12 and writ jurisdiction |
Conclusion. Administrative law grew because the State changed from a police State into a welfare State. That change gave officials power to make rules, decide disputes and use discretion. The legislature lacked time and expertise, and the courts lacked speed. The same growth created the need to protect the citizen, so the courts built natural justice and judicial review. As Kraipak shows, the growth of administrative power and the growth of control over it are one process.
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