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Administrative Law
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
BLS LLB 5 Years · Sem 7
May 2016 Examination
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BLS LLB 5 Years Sem 7 Administrative Law May 2016 Question Paper with Solutions
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First published on munotes.in on 29 September 2026.
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Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
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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 May 2016 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 May 2016 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the May 2016 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
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B: 1. Attempt all questions. 2. Figures to the right indicate full marks. 3. Support your answers with relevant case laws.
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 two sentence 20 Marks
(1)Define Ombudsman.[2]
Answer
An ombudsman is an independent officer appointed by the legislature to inquire into complaints by citizens against the administration, of injustice caused by maladministration. The word is Swedish and means an agent, a representative or a grievance officer.
Its origin. The office was created in Sweden in 1809, as the Justitieombudsman. Finland followed in 1919, Denmark in 1955 and Norway in 1962. The United Kingdom created the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration in 1967.
Its features.
- Independent of the executive, and usually appointed by or answerable to the legislature.
- Investigates maladministration, that is bias, neglect, delay, inefficiency, arbitrariness, incompetence and ineptitude, rather than the legality of a decision, which is the court's province.
- Has wide powers of investigation, including access to files and the power to summon officials.
- Uses a simple, cheap and informal procedure, with no court fee and often no lawyer.
- Recommends rather than orders, and its strength lies in publicity and in a report to the legislature.
In India.
- The Administrative Reforms Commission (1966), chaired by Morarji Desai, recommended a two-tier body: a Lokpal at the Centre and a Lokayukta in each State.
- The Lokayuktas came first, Maharashtra being one of the earliest, under the Maharashtra Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act, 1971.
- The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 created the Lokpal, after eight Bills had failed since 1968. The first Lokpal, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, was appointed in March 2019.
- Sector ombudsmen also exist, such as the Banking Ombudsman of the Reserve Bank of India and the Insurance Ombudsman.
Conclusion. An ombudsman is an independent officer who investigates complaints of maladministration and reports on them. He complements the court rather than replacing it: the court tests legality, while the ombudsman examines the quality of administration, which no court can reach. In India the office takes the form of the Lokpal at the Centre and the Lokayukta in the States.
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