KSLU Solved Question Papers
Administrative Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2022 Apr Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Administrative Law 2022 Apr 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 2022 Apr examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2022 Apr examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2022 Apr 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/problem is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answers should be written completely 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 1
(a)"Administrative law has been the result of the outstanding growth of 20th century". Examine with definitions of administrative law.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the definitions and what each shows about the subject (Dicey, Jennings, Wade, Davis, the Indian Law Institute); why the twentieth century produced the subject (the State's new tasks); the growth traced through its three channels, each with an Indian case: rule-making (Delhi Laws Act), adjudication (S.P. Sampath Kumar), executive power and discretion (Ram Jawaya Kapur; Binapani Dei); the earlier roots that qualify the statement; an assessment; a conclusion.
The definitions
The definitions themselves show that administrative law is a modern subject.
- A.V. Dicey (1885) understood administrative law as the French system of special rules and courts for officials. He thought England had no such law, because its officials answered to the ordinary courts. His view reflects a time when the State did little.
- Sir Ivor Jennings, writing in the twentieth century, described it as the law relating to the administration: the organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities.
- H.W.R. Wade described it as the law concerning the control of governmental power, to keep it within legal limits and protect the citizen.
- K.C. Davis, in the United States, defined it as the law concerning the powers and procedures of administrative agencies, especially judicial review of their action.
- The Indian Law Institute added control by the legislature and other bodies, and the remedies and liability of the administration.
The movement from Dicey's denial to these broad definitions is itself the story of the twentieth century. As the administration grew, the law governing it became a recognised subject.
Why the twentieth century
The nineteenth-century State was a "police State". It kept order, defended the borders, collected taxes and left most of life to private enterprise. The twentieth century changed this in several ways.
- The welfare State. Governments took up education, health, housing, pensions and social insurance.
- Two world wars and the depression. They brought controls on prices, supplies, labour and industry.
- Industry and technology. Factories, railways, electricity, broadcasting and later aviation needed constant regulation.
- In India, planned development. After 1950 the Constitution's Directive Principles and the Five Year Plans placed the State at the centre of economic life.
Each new task needed administrative power, and each power needed legal control. That is why the statement says the subject is the result of the outstanding growth of the century.
The growth traced through three channels
1. Rule-making by the administration. Legislatures could not make all the rules needed, so they delegated rule-making. In re The Delhi Laws Act, 1912, AIR 1951 SC 332, was a Presidential reference on laws letting the Government extend enactments to Delhi and other areas with modifications. The Supreme Court accepted delegation as a necessity of modern government. But the legislature must keep the essential function of laying down policy, and the power to repeal existing laws was struck down.
2. Adjudication by tribunals. Disputes about service, tax, labour and rent multiplied, and tribunals were created to decide them. The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act 1976 added Articles 323A and 323B for this purpose. S.P. Sampath Kumar v. Union of India, AIR 1987 SC 386, upheld the Administrative Tribunals Act 1985, which took service disputes from the High Courts. But the Court required the tribunal to be as effective as the High Court, with a Chairman of judicial stature.
3. Executive power and discretion. The executive acquired vast discretionary powers, often without detailed statutes. Rai Sahib Ram Jawaya Kapur v. State of Punjab, AIR 1955 SC 549. The Punjab Government took over the publishing of school text books by executive decision, without any Act. The Supreme Court upheld this, holding that executive power covers what remains after legislative and judicial functions. But it cannot infringe rights or break the law.
The law then extended control to this power. State of Orissa v. Dr. (Miss) Binapani Dei, AIR 1967 SC 1269. The State refixed a medical officer's date of birth after an inquiry and retired her, without showing her the evidence. The Supreme Court held that even an administrative order involving civil consequences must observe natural justice.
The earlier roots
The statement must be qualified. Administrative law has older roots.
- The prerogative writs, such as certiorari and mandamus, controlled inferior bodies in England for centuries.
- France had its Conseil d'Etat from 1799, with a developed droit administratif in the nineteenth century.
- In India, the liability of the East India Company for its servants' acts was considered as early as 1861 in the P. and O. case.
What the twentieth century added was scale, recognition as a separate subject, and a systematic body of doctrine.
Assessment
| Feature | Before 1900 | Twentieth century |
|---|---|---|
| Role of the State | Police State | Welfare and regulatory State |
| Rule-making | Mostly by legislature | Large-scale delegated legislation |
| Disputes | Ordinary courts | Tribunals as well |
| Feature | Before 1900 | Twentieth century |
|---|---|---|
| Discretion | Limited | Vast, and subject to review |
| Status of the subject | Denied by Dicey | Recognised, with defined scope |
Conclusion. The statement is largely true. Read against its definitions, administrative law emerged as a recognised subject only when the twentieth-century State took on welfare, regulation and planning. That growth came through delegated legislation (Delhi Laws Act), tribunals (Sampath Kumar) and wide executive discretion (Ram Jawaya Kapur). It was matched by new controls such as natural justice in administrative action (Binapani Dei). Its roots, in the prerogative writs and the French system, are older. The twentieth century gave the subject its scale and its systematic form.
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