Mumbai University Solved Question Papers
Administrative Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
BLS LLB 5 Years · Sem 7
Dec 2012 Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
BLS LLB 5 Years Sem 7 Administrative Law Dec 2012 Question Paper with Solutions
Get access to whole semester resourcesSemester Pass
MU law student group
Free to join
First published on munotes.in on 29 September 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 the University of Mumbai. It is not affiliated with the University of Mumbai, 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 the University of Mumbai at the Dec 2012 examination.
The answers in this volume state the law as it stands today, not as it stood when this paper was set, and in this subject that distinction is doing real work. On 19 November 2025 the Supreme Court struck down the core provisions of the Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 governing the appointment, tenure and conditions of service of tribunal members, so a textbook printed before that date states the position wrongly; every answer here on tribunals gives the Act as enacted and then what survives of it. The criminal statutes the older papers cite have also been replaced, so where a question is set on Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code the answer gives the corresponding section of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 alongside it, and the same is done for the Indian Evidence Act. Where a decision relied on in an older paper has since been overruled, most importantly ADM Jabalpur, the answer says so. A repeated question from an older paper can therefore be answered from these pages as they are written.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as the University of Mumbai set it at the Dec 2012 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the Dec 2012 examination, reproduced as the University of Mumbai set them, in the order it set them. Nothing has been reworded, added or left out. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 25 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.
Q.1
Answer in short, not more than two sentences 20 Marks
(a)What is primary object of Administrative Law?[2]
Answer
The primary objective of administrative law is to control the exercise of governmental power: to keep every administrative authority inside the power the law gave it, to make it act fairly and for the purpose for which the power was given, and to give the citizen a remedy when it does not.
1. The classic statement. Wade describes administrative law as the law relating to the control of governmental power, and says its primary purpose is to keep the powers of government within their legal bounds so as to protect the citizen against their abuse.
2. What that objective breaks into.
- Legality. An authority must stay within the power conferred, which is the doctrine of ultra vires.
- Fair procedure. It must observe natural justice, hear the person affected and be free from bias. A.K. Kraipak v. Union of India (1969) 2 SCC 262 extended this duty to administrative and not merely quasi-judicial functions.
- Proper purpose and relevant reasons. Discretion must be used for the purpose for which it was given, on relevant considerations, and not arbitrarily. Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India (1978) 1 SCC 248 requires a procedure that is fair, just and reasonable.
- Remedies. The citizen must have a real remedy: the writs under Articles 32 and 226, appeals to tribunals, statutory revisions, and compensation where a wrong has been done.
3. The objective it is not. Administrative law does not exist to obstruct administration or to substitute the judge's view of what is best. The court asks whether the decision was lawfully made, not whether it was the wisest. That is why judicial review examines the decision-making process rather than the merits.
4. The balance behind it. A welfare State must have wide powers to function, and wide powers carry a risk of abuse. Administrative law is the machinery that holds efficiency of administration and liberty of the citizen together, giving the administration the room it needs while keeping it answerable.
Conclusion. The primary objective is the control of administrative power in the interest of the citizen: legality, fairness, proper purpose and an effective remedy. Everything else in the subject, ultra vires, natural justice, the writs, tribunals and the ombudsman, is machinery built to serve that single objective.
The rest of the answers
The first answer is free. The rest come with the B.L.S. LL.B. 5 Years Semester 7 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.
Notes + Solved papers: ₹798 Already bought it? Sign in
Or solved papers only: ₹499
Or notes only: ₹499
The question paper itself stays free, and so does the syllabus.
Found an error in this volume? Report it and we will check it against the paper.