KSLU Solved Question Papers
Administrative Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2021 Mar (100 marks) Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Administrative Law 2021 Mar (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2021 Mar (100 marks) examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2021 Mar (100 marks) 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.
Q1'Administrative law has been characterised as the most outstanding development of the 20th century'. Discuss with definitions of administrative law.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what the statement claims; the definitions read as a record of the subject's growth (Dicey's denial, then Jennings, Davis, Griffith and Street, Wade, the Indian Law Institute) and a working definition; why the growth came in the twentieth century (the welfare State, wars and depression, industry and technology, planning); what the growth consisted of, area by area, each with an Indian decision: rule-making (Delhi Laws Act), adjudication (Bharat Bank, S.P. Sampath Kumar), fairness (Kraipak, Maneka Gandhi), liability (Kasturilal, Nagendra Rao), ombudsman bodies; how far the statement is true: earlier roots (Entick v. Carrington, the Conseil d'Etat, Blanco, the P. and O. case) and growth continuing after 2000; a table; a conclusion.
What the statement claims
The statement makes two claims. First, administrative law grew in the twentieth century on a scale that no other branch of law matched. Second, its growth was the most important legal change of that century. To test them, one must first know what administrative law is. That is why the question asks for definitions.
The definitions as a record of growth
The definitions of administrative law, read in order, show the subject coming into being.
1. A.V. Dicey (1885). Dicey described administrative law as the part of a country's law that fixes the status and liabilities of State officials. It also fixes the rights of citizens dealing with them. He thought of the French droit administratif. He denied that England had any such law, because English officials answered to the ordinary courts. At the end of the nineteenth century, then, the leading English writer did not admit the subject existed.
2. Sir Ivor Jennings. Writing in the twentieth century, Jennings described it as the law relating to the administration, which determines the organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities. By his time, England had too much administrative law to deny.
3. K.C. Davis. In the United States, Davis described it as the law about the powers and procedures of administrative agencies, especially judicial review of their action. His focus shows how far regulatory agencies had grown there.
4. Griffith and Street. They framed the subject as three questions. What powers does the administration have? What limits are there on them? How is it kept within those limits?
5. H.W.R. Wade. He treated it as the law about the control of governmental power, to protect the citizen against its abuse. By mid-century the stress had moved from describing power to controlling it.
6. The Indian Law Institute. It added control by the legislature and other bodies, and the liability of the administration. This suits India, where ombudsmen and State liability are part of the subject.
A working definition. Administrative law is the branch of public law that deals with the organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities. It covers the procedure they follow, the controls over them and the remedies of persons they harm.
The movement from Dicey's denial to Wade's law of control is itself evidence for the statement.
Why the growth came in the twentieth century
- The welfare State. The nineteenth-century State kept order and collected taxes. The twentieth-century State ran railways, banks, schools, hospitals and industries, and regulated prices, labour and land.
- Wars and depression. Two world wars and the economic depression of the 1930s needed quick executive action, controls and rationing.
- Industry and technology. Factories, cities, transport and new technology raised problems too detailed and technical for the legislature.
- Planning. In India, Part IV of the Constitution and the Five-Year Plans committed the State to directing economic life.
Each of these put large powers in the hands of officials. The law had to grow to grant them and to control them.
What the growth consisted of
1. Rule-making by the executive. The legislature began to leave details to the executive. In re The Delhi Laws Act, 1912, AIR 1951 SC 332, accepted delegated legislation as a necessity. It held that the legislature may not hand over its essential function of laying down policy.
2. Adjudication outside the courts. Tribunals multiplied. The Bharat Bank Ltd. v. Employees of the Bharat Bank Ltd., AIR 1950 SC 188, held that an Industrial Tribunal, though "not a Court", discharged functions very like judicial ones, so an appeal lay to the Supreme Court. S.P. Sampath Kumar v. Union of India, AIR 1987 SC 386, upheld the Administrative Tribunals Act 1985. Judicial review is part of the basic structure. But Parliament may replace the High Court with a tribunal that is equally effective.
3. Fairness in administration. A.K. Kraipak v. Union of India, AIR 1970 SC 150, applied natural justice to an administrative selection. A candidate had sat on the board judging his rivals. Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, AIR 1978 SC 597, held that procedure affecting liberty must be fair, just and reasonable, after a passport was impounded without a hearing.
4. Liability of the State. Kasturilal Ralia Ram Jain v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1965 SC 1039, denied a bullion firm compensation for gold misappropriated by a head constable, because seizure was a sovereign function. N. Nagendra Rao and Co. v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1994 SC 2663, confined that immunity to primary functions such as defence. So the State was liable for goods spoilt in official custody.
5. Ombudsman bodies. New Zealand adopted the ombudsman in 1962 and the United Kingdom created a Parliamentary Commissioner in 1967. India set up the Central Vigilance Commission in 1964 and State Lokayuktas, such as Karnataka's under the Act of 1984.
The growth also caused alarm
The speed of the growth was itself proof of its importance, because it frightened lawyers. In 1929 Lord Hewart, the Lord Chief Justice of England, published The New Despotism. It argued that the executive was undermining the rule of law at the expense of Parliament and the courts. The Committee on Ministers' Powers was appointed the same year and reported in 1932. It accepted that delegated legislation and administrative adjudication were necessary, and recommended safeguards. The debate shows that the growth was seen as a fundamental change, not a minor one.
How far the statement is true
It is true of the scale. No other branch of law grew so fast or touched so many lives in the twentieth century. Rule-making, tribunals, discretion, natural justice, State liability and ombudsmen all became major subjects within one century.
It is not true of the origin. The roots are older.
- In Entick v. Carrington (1765) 19 State Tr 1029, the King's messengers searched Entick's house and seized his papers under a Secretary of State's warrant. The court held the warrant void, because no law authorised it. An official needs legal authority for what he does.
- France set up the Conseil d'Etat in December 1799. In the Blanco case of 8 February 1873, the Tribunal des Conflits ruled on the State's liability for its public services. It held that this liability follows special rules, decided by administrative courts.
- In India, Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. v. Secretary of State for India (1861) 5 Bom HCR App 1 held the Government liable for injury caused by its dockyard workmen. A private person could have run that undertaking.
Nor did the growth stop in 1999. The Right to Information Act 2005, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013 and the Tribunals Reforms Act 2026 show the subject still growing.
| Period | Definition or event | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| 1885 | Dicey denies English administrative law | The subject not yet admitted |
| Early twentieth century | Jennings's definition | The administration's powers recognised |
| Mid-century | Davis; Wade | Agencies and control of power |
| 1950 to 1994 | Delhi Laws Act to Nagendra Rao | Indian law built by the courts |
| After 2000 | RTI, Lokpal, Tribunals Reforms Act 2026 | Growth continues |
Conclusion. Administrative law is the law of the organisation, powers, procedure and control of the administration, and of the remedies against it. The definitions themselves record its rise, from Dicey's denial in 1885 to Wade's law of control. Its growth in the twentieth century, driven by the welfare State, wars, industry and planning, was unmatched in scale. It spread across rule-making, adjudication, fairness, liability and ombudsmen (Delhi Laws Act, Bharat Bank, Kraipak, Maneka Gandhi, Nagendra Rao). The statement is therefore right about the scale of the development. But its roots go back to Entick v. Carrington, the Conseil d'Etat and the P. and O. case, and it is still growing today.
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