KSLU Solved Question Papers
Administrative Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2023 Mar Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Administrative Law 2023 Mar 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 2023 Mar examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2023 Mar examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2023 Mar 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/problems is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or in 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)'Administrative law has been characterised as the phenomenal outcome of the development of the 20th century.' Discuss.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the meaning of the statement; the 19th-century background (laissez-faire State; Dicey's denial of administrative law in 1885; the prerogative writs); what changed in the 20th century (welfare State, wars and depression, industry and cities, technical government); the 20th-century landmarks in England (Committee on Ministers' Powers 1932, Crown Proceedings Act 1947, Franks Committee 1957, Ridge v. Baldwin), the United States (independent commissions, Administrative Procedure Act 1946) and India (Constitution of 1950; Delhi Laws Act, Kraipak, Maneka Gandhi); an assessment of how far the statement is true.
The meaning of the statement
The statement says that administrative law, as a full branch of law, is a product of the twentieth century. It grew so rapidly and so widely in that century that its growth can be called "phenomenal". The reason is that the twentieth-century State took on more work than any State before it, and that work needed new powers and new controls.
The background: the 19th century
In the nineteenth century the State was a laissez-faire or police State. It kept order, defended the country, collected taxes and ran the courts; trade and social life were left to private people. In 1885 A.V. Dicey argued that England had no administrative law at all, because officials were subject to the ordinary law in the ordinary courts.
That denial was never fully accurate. The prerogative writs, such as certiorari and mandamus, had long controlled inferior bodies. But administrative law did not exist as a recognised, organised subject.
What changed in the 20th century
- The welfare State. Governments began to provide insurance, health, housing, education and pensions. Each service created officials with powers and disputes to decide.
- Wars and economic depression. Two world wars and the depression of the 1930s led to controls on prices, supplies, labour and industry, usually through executive orders.
- Industry and cities. Factories, transport, public health and town planning needed constant regulation.
- Technical government. Matters like electricity, broadcasting and drugs needed expert administrators rather than general laws.
- Delegated legislation and tribunals. Legislatures could not make every rule, and courts could not decide every dispute, so both were shifted to the administration.
The landmarks
England. The Committee on Ministers' Powers reported in 1932. It found delegated legislation and administrative adjudication necessary, but recommended safeguards. The Crown Proceedings Act 1947 made the Crown liable in tort broadly as a private person. The Franks Committee reported in 1957 that tribunals should be marked by openness, fairness and impartiality. In Ridge v. Baldwin [1964] AC 40, the House of Lords held void the dismissal of the Chief Constable of Brighton without a hearing, reviving natural justice in administrative decisions. The Ombudsman idea also spread in this century. New Zealand adopted it in 1962, and the United Kingdom created a Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration in 1967. Citizens gained a way to complain about bad administration without going to court.
The United States. Independent regulatory commissions, combining rule-making, investigation and adjudication, multiplied in the twentieth century. The Administrative Procedure Act 1946 codified how agencies must make rules and decide cases.
India. The Constitution of 1950 committed the State to welfare in Part IV and gave the writs a constitutional base in Articles 32 and 226. The courts then built the law quickly:
- In re The Delhi Laws Act, 1912, AIR 1951 SC 332, accepted delegated legislation as a necessity, provided the legislature keeps its essential function of laying down policy.
- A.K. Kraipak v. Union of India, AIR 1970 SC 150, extended natural justice to administrative inquiries. A selection board for the Indian Forest Service included a candidate, who sat while his rivals were assessed. The board was held biased and its selection set aside.
- Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, AIR 1978 SC 597, held that a procedure affecting personal liberty must be "right and just and fair", after a passport was impounded without a hearing or reasons.
How far the statement is true
The statement is largely true. The volume of administrative power, the number of tribunals and the body of judicial doctrine all grew dramatically in the twentieth century. But it should be qualified. The roots of administrative law, especially the prerogative writs and the French droit administratif, are much older. What the twentieth century produced was the scale, the recognition and the systematic doctrine of the subject. In that sense the description is apt: the subject was not invented in the twentieth century, but it came of age then.
Conclusion. Administrative law is fairly described as a phenomenal outcome of the twentieth century. The welfare State, wars, depression, industry and technical government produced vast administrative power, and the law grew to control it. In England that growth is marked by the 1932 Committee, the 1947 Act, the Franks Committee and Ridge v. Baldwin. The United States has the 1946 Act, and India the Delhi Laws Act case, Kraipak and Maneka Gandhi. Its roots, however, are older.
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