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Admin Law Notes - Introduction Part

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Shvet Kaushik
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12 views

Admin Law Notes - Introduction Part

Uploaded by

Shvet Kaushik
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Meaning/Definition of Administrative Law:

It is difficult to evolve a scientific, precise and satisfactory


definition of Administrative Law. Many jurists have made attempts
to define it, but none of the definitions has completely
demarcated the nature, scope and content of administrative law.
The main object of this law is to protect individual rights.
Administrative law is a branch of public law, which deals with the
structure, powers and functions of the organs of administration;
the limits of their powers and the methods, by which their powers
are controlled, including the legal remedies available against
them.

Administrative law is the branch of the law governing the


relationship between the individual and the executive branch of
the government when the latter acts in its administrative
capacity.

Prof. Jennings defines administrative law as the "law relating to


administration. It determines the organization, powers and duties
of administrative authorities".
H.L.A. Hart defines "Broadly conceived, administrative law
includes law that is made as well as the law that controls the
administrative authorities of the Government".
According to Wade, Administrative Law is `the law relating to the
control of governmental power'. According to him, the primary
object of Administrative Law is to keep powers of the Government
within their legal bounds so as to protect the citizens against their
abuse.
According to K.C. Davis , "Administrative Law is the law
concerning the powers and procedures of administrative
agencies, including especially the law governing judicial review of
administrative action".
Garner also adopts the American approach advocated by K. C.
Davis. According to him, Administrative Law may be described as
"those rules which are recognised by the courts as law and which
relate to and regulate the administration of Government".
Dicey has defined administrative law as, "It is that portion of a
nation's legal system, which determines the legal status and
liabilities of all State officials, and secondly, defines the rights and
liabilities of private individuals in their dealings with public
officials, and thirdly, specifies the procedure by which those rights
and liabilities are enforced."

So from above discussion it can be said that administrative law


deals with structure, powers and functions of different
administrative authorities and procedure to be followed by them
in exercising powers and discharging duties so as to protect rights
of any aggrieved person who has been affected by action of such
authorities. Administrative Law deals with the organization and
powers of administrative authorities.
In simple words, administrative law is the science of powers of
administrative authorities. The nature of their powers can be
studied under three heads:
(1) Legislative or Rule-making,
(2) Judicial or Adjudicative,
(3) Purely Executive.
Nature and Scope of Administrative Law:
The scope of Administrative Law in India is very much similar to
that of United States. With the growth of the powers of
administrative authorities the question as to how to control these
powers became very important.
Administrative Law deals with the powers of the administrative
authorities, the manner in which such powers are exercised and
the remedies which are available to the aggrieved persons when
these authorities abuse those powers.
The key function of administrative law is to find the ways, in
which the administration could be kept within limits, so that
discretionary power may not become arbitrary powers. The task
of Administrative Law is to reconcile, in the field of administrative
action, democratic safeguard and standards of fair play with the
effective conduct of Government.
As has been rightly observed by Lord Denning: "Properly
exercised, the new powers of the executive lead to the Welfare
State; but abused they lead to the Totalitarian State". The main
object of the study of Administrative Law is to unravel (unfold) the
way in which these administrative authorities could be kept within
their limits so that the discretionary powers may not be turned
into arbitrary powers.

Nature: Administrative law is a study of multifarious powers of


administrative authorities and the nature of their power can be
studied under the following three heads-

1) Legislative or Rule making


2) Judicial or adjudicative
3) Purely executive
Freiedmann, while dealing with the nature and scope of
Administrative law says that Administrative law includes the law
relating to-

1) The legislative powers of the administration, both at


common law and under statute;
2) The administrative powers of the administration, both at
common law and under a vast many of statutes;
3) The judicial and quasi-judicial powers of administration, all
of them statutory;
4) The legal liability of Public authorities;
5) The power of the ordinary courts to supervise the
administrative authorities.

Scope: The province of Administrative law consists of the


following-

1) Existence of various administrative bodies- such as,


Wage-board, Central Board of Revenue, Commission of
Inquiry and Advisory Boards, Tariff Commission, etc.
2) Rule making power of administrative agencies- i.e.
delegated legislation; safeguard against abuse of power and
judicial control.
3) Judicial functions of administrative agencies like
Administrative tribunals- i.e., claims Tribunals Industrial
Tribunal, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal performing
judicial functions.
4) Remedies- Various remedies like writs of Mandamus,
Certiorari, Prohibition etc., injunction, declaration etc. are
available to prevent excess any abuse of power.
5) Procedural guarantees- The concept of procedural
guarantee include the rules of nature justice.
6) Government Liability- The Union and State Governments
are liable under torts as well as control for the wrongs
committed by their servant and agents.
7) Public Corporation- It includes liability ad legal
responsibility of public corporation.

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