KSLU Solved Question Papers
Administrative Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2024 Aug Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Administrative Law 2024 Aug Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.
Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
Passages from this volume may be quoted, in print, online or by an AI system, with credit: name munotes.in and link to this volume's page. The volume may not be reproduced as a whole. Full terms at munotes.in/content-license.
munotes.in is an independent study resource for students of Karnataka State Law University. It is not affiliated with Karnataka State Law University, and is not endorsed by it.
The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.
The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2024 Aug examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2024 Aug examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2024 Aug 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 either in English or Kannada compulsorily.
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)Define administrative law and discuss the nature of administrative law.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: a definition (Jennings, Wade, the Indian Law Institute; a working definition); the nature of administrative law: public law with private law at its edges; largely judge-made (Kraipak); dynamic and growing (ADM Jabalpur overruled in Puttaswamy; Om Kumar on proportionality); closely tied to constitutional law (Maneka Gandhi); mainly procedural; both controlling and enabling (red light and green light views); its scope; a conclusion.
Definition
Sir Ivor Jennings described administrative law as the law relating to the administration: the organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities. H.W.R. Wade stressed its purpose: to keep the powers of government within their legal limits and protect the citizen against their abuse. The Indian Law Institute added control by the legislature and other bodies, and the liability of the administration.
A working definition: administrative law is the branch of public law that deals with the organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities. It also deals with the procedure they must follow, the controls over them and the remedies of persons affected by their action.
The nature of administrative law
1. It is public law. Public law governs relations between the citizen and the State; private law governs relations between citizens. Administrative law is public law, because one side is always a public authority using a power the citizen does not have. But at its edges it borrows private law. When the State makes a contract or commits a tort, the ordinary law of contract and tort applies to it, with some special rules.
2. It is largely judge-made. India has no general Administrative Procedure Act. The principles of natural justice, the grounds of judicial review and the tests of excessive delegation were developed by the courts. A.K. Kraipak v. Union of India, AIR 1970 SC 150, is a good example. A candidate for the Indian Forest Service sat on the board that assessed his rivals. No statute required impartiality in such a board, but the Supreme Court set the selection aside for bias. It held that natural justice applies to administrative action too.
3. It is dynamic and growing. Because it is judge-made, it changes with the times. Additional District Magistrate, Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla, AIR 1976 SC 1207, held during the 1975 emergency that detenus could not seek habeas corpus at all. Khanna J dissented. In Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) v. Union of India, AIR 2017 SC 4161, the Supreme Court declared ADM Jabalpur overruled. New grounds have also emerged. Om Kumar v. Union of India, AIR 2000 SC 3689, explained that proportionality now applies where administrative action restricts fundamental freedoms.
4. It is closely linked to constitutional law. In India most of its standards come from the Constitution. Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, AIR 1978 SC 597, held that a procedure affecting personal liberty under Article 21 must be "right and just and fair", and that Article 14 strikes at arbitrariness. The remedies too are constitutional, through the writs under Articles 32 and 226.
5. It is mainly procedural. It does not tell the Government what policy to follow. It tells the administration how to act: by what procedure, within what limits and subject to what review. For this reason it is sometimes called an adjective law.
6. It both controls and enables. One view, the red light view, sees administrative law mainly as a check on power through the courts. Another, the green light view, sees it as a tool that helps the administration work well, through good procedures, internal controls and ombudsmen. Modern administrative law does both.
An illustration
Suppose a State Transport Authority is set up by an Act to grant bus permits "having regard to the interest of the public". Its composition and powers under the Act are questions of organisation. A notification refusing permits to any operator with more than twenty buses is rule-making, tested by the law of delegated legislation. The refusal of a particular operator's application after hearing him is adjudication, governed by natural justice. A writ petition claiming that the twenty-bus rule is irrelevant to the public interest raises control and remedies. One power thus touches every part of the subject.
Scope
| Area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Rule-making | Delegated legislation and its control |
| Decision-making | Natural justice, bias, hearing, reasons |
| Area | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Adjudication | Tribunals and their relation to courts |
| Discretion and remedies | Grounds of review, writs, legitimate expectation, proportionality |
| Liability and accountability | State liability, public corporations, Lokpal and Lokayukta, right to information |
Conclusion. Administrative law is the public law that defines and controls the powers of administrative authorities and gives remedies against their misuse. Its nature is that of a public, largely judge-made and constantly growing law. As Kraipak, Maneka Gandhi and Puttaswamy show, it is closely tied to the Constitution. It is mainly procedural, and it aims both to control administrative power and to help it work fairly.
The rest of the answers
The first answer is free. The rest come with the KSLU B.A. LL.B. Semester 5 solved papers.
You have read the question paper and its first answer in full. Buy the solved papers once and you can read every answer of every solved paper in this semester.
Solved papers: ₹499 Already bought it? Sign in
The question paper itself stays free.
Found an error in this volume? Report it and we will check it against the paper.