Table of Contents

Table of Contents.....................................................................................0
Acknowledgements.................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................2
MEANING.................................................................................................3
DEFINITION..............................................................................................4
HISTORY OF DELEGATED LEGISLATION....................................................5
REASON FOR THE GROWTH OF DELEGATED LEGISLATION......................7
Pressure upon time of Parliament........................................................7
Technicality of the matters...................................................................8
Provide Flexibility..................................................................................8
As a part of an Experiment....................................................................9
Emergency Situations............................................................................9
Complex Modern Administration........................................................10
Advantages of Delegated Legislation.....................................................11
Disadvantages of Delegated Legislation................................................12
Procedural and Executive Control.........................................................13
Case laws............................................................................................... 15
Kruse v. Johnson................................................................................. 15
Chintaman Rao Case...........................................................................15
CONCLUSION......................................................................................... 17
BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................................19
 Acknowledgements
Many people assisted me in successfully finishing this
project. I want to thank everyone involved in this initiative.
I’d like to thank my Mentor, Mr. Adesh Pratap Singh, who
gave us a very interesting and knowledgeable assignment
on, “DELEGATED LEGISLATION; REASON FOR I’TS
GROWTH, CONSTITUTIONALITY AND CONTROL
MECHANISM” His ideas and comments aided in the
completion of this project.

I am grateful to the college administration for providing me

with such a significant chance. Finally, I’d like to express my
gratitude to my parents and friends for their excellent
comments and guidance during the completion of this
project

-Neelesh Ganguly
 INTRODUCTION
Delegated legislation, also known as subordinate or
secondary legislation, refers to laws made by individuals or
bodies authorized by the legislature to create detailed
regulations under a specific Act of Parliament. Delegated
legislation derives its authority from an enabling Act
passed by the legislature. The Constitution of India grants
the power to the legislature to make laws for the country.
However, due to the multifarious activities of a welfare
state, it becomes impractical for the legislature to perform
all functions. In such cases, delegated legislation comes
into play. Delegated legislation is the process by which the
executive is given the authority by the legislature to make
laws in order to implement and administer the
requirements of primary legislation. While delegation of
legislative powers is necessary, it is crucial to maintain
control over the process to prevent abuse of power.
 MEANING
‘Delegation’ has been defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as
an act of entrusting a person with the power or
empowering him to act on behalf of that person who has
given him that power or to act as his agent or
representative. ‘Delegated legislation’ means exercising of
legislative power by an agent who is lower in rank to the
Legislature, or who is subordinate to the Legislature.
Delegated legislation, additionally alluded to as an auxiliary
legislation, is an enactment made by an individual or body
other than Parliament. Parliament, through an Act of
Parliament, can allow someone else or some body to make
enactment. An Act of Parliament makes the system of a
specific or particular law and tends to contain an outline of
the purpose for the Act. By delegating the legislation by
Parliament to the Executive or any subordinate, it
empowers different people or bodies to integrate more
details to an Act of Parliament. Parliament along these
lines, through essential enactment (for example an Act of
Parliament), licenses others to make laws and guidelines
through delegated legislation. The enactment made by
authorize person must be made as per the reason set down
in the Act of Parliament.
 DEFINITION
According to Sir John Salmond, “Subordinate legislation
is that which proceeds from any authority other than the
sovereign power.”

According to M.P Jain, this term can be used in two

senses:

1. Exercise by subordinate agency or agency that is lower

in rank to legislature delegated to it by the Legislature.

2. The Subsidiary rules made by the Subordinate

Authority in the execution of the power bestowed on it
by the Legislature.

Delegated legislation is, referred to as Subordinate,

Ancillary, Administrative legislation, and Quasi-
Legislation.
 HISTORY OF DELEGATED
LEGISLATION
The historical backdrop of the delegation of power can be
followed from the Charter Act of 1833 when the East India
Company was recapturing political impact in India. The
Charter Act of 1833 vested the administrative powers only
in the hands of the Governor-General-in Council, which
was an official body. He was enabled to make laws and
guidelines for revoking, correcting or modifying any laws or
guidelines, which were for all people regardless of their
nationality. In 1935 the Government of India Ac, 1935 was
passed which contained a serious plan of delegation. The
report of the Committee of Ministers’ Powers was submitted
and affirmed which completely settled the case for
assignment of forces and appointment of enactment that
was viewed as inescapable in India. However, our
Constitution depended on the separation of power; a total
partition of forces was unrealistic henceforth it kept up the
holiness of the tenet in the cutting edge sense. The Indian
Constitution does not deny the assignment of forces. Then
again there are a few arrangements where the official had
been conceded with the administrative forces. For instance,
the administrative forces of the President under the Indian
Constitution are prominent. The problem of the delegation
of legislation in India originated under the British rule
when the controversy on the problem in the West was in
full swing. In independent India, the conflict of settling the
problem of the delegation of legislative power was prima
facie to a conflict between the English and American type of
solution. The Constitution of India comprises of more than
four hundred Articles and it had not been surprised if the
Constitution makers include some solution for it. But why
these provisions were incorporated in the Constitution?
This is because the politicians in the Constituent Assembly
tended to multiply legal formulations. These issues were of
minor importance on which legal formulation was made in
comparison to other greater constitutional issues that were
by-passed by the Assembly that were left to future accord
or judicial interpretation. In the case of Queen v. Burah1,
nature and extent of Legislature power and the feasibility of
its delegation was considered by the Privy Council. The
Privy Council, in this case, held that Councils of Governor-
General was supreme Legislature and has ample number of
powers and who are entitled to transfer certain powers to
provincial executors. At the time of passing of New Delhi
Act of 1912, the Privy Council accepted the transfer of
Legislature power to the Executive.

1
[1878] UKPC 26
 REASON FOR THE GROWTH OF
DELEGATED LEGISLATION
Many factors are responsible for the rapid growth of
delegated ‘police state’ legislation in today’s time. Because
of the radical change in the governance of a country from
to the ‘welfare state’ the function and the need of
delegated legislation have increased. These factors and
reasons for growth of delegated legislation can be
seen as follows:

Pressure upon time of Parliament

The area, scope, or horizon of state activities are expanding day by day
and it is difficult for the Parliament to make laws on each and every
matter as they are having a lot of work to do and they also have to make
legislation on various matters. The Parliament is so much occupied with
matters concerning foreign policy and political issues that it has not
much time to enact the laws in detail. So it only frames the broad part of
the rule and outline of the legislation and gives that legislation to the
executive or some of its subordinates to fill the full detail following the
necessary rules and regulations. It is like they have given the only
skeleton and the subordinate have to fill flesh and blood to the skeleton
to make it alive. The committee on Ministers’ Power has observed that if
the parliament is not willing to delegate law making power to the
subordinate then he will unable to pass the quality of rules and
regulations that a person needs to live a happy life or legislation which a
modern public requires.

Technicality of the matters

With the progress and development of the society, things
have become more bitter, complex and technical. So, to
understand the technicality of each and every topic,
legislature needs the expert advice or suggestions on the
specific matters and issues, who are well aware of even
minute details of that matter. In order to have a, control
over such matters immense acquaintance and
understanding is essential. Therefore, legislative power
maybe conferred on experts to deal with technical
problems.

Provide Flexibility
Modifications or amendments made by the Parliament are quite sluggish
and it needs a procedure that helps to make any kind of laws and this is
possible by the concept of delegated legislation, as the laws can be made
with speed and efficiency with the help of the executives and other
subordinate bodies. Another challenge is that, the Parliament cannot
predict the future possibilities, while enacting a law. So, to make this
possible the responsibilities are being given to other subordinates as
well. So, it is essential to divide the workload with lower authorities to
ensure the completion of work in a smooth and efficiency manner.

As a part of an Experiment
The exercise of delegated legislation empowers the
Executive to do an experiment. As every duty is new for the
legislature as well and so, to ensure efficiency it has to
come up with such tactics, to know whether the made
legislation is giving proper results or not. This technique or
approach allows for the application of such experience and
for execution of bringing in important changes in the
legislations made by the Parliament.

Emergency Situations
In all kinds of emergency kind of situation, one should know how to
deal with such problems, rapidly without any place for obstructions and
delays. The legislature does not have every skill, for providing an urgent
answer, in such crucial times, to deal with the situation of emergencies.
Delegated legislation one and only way to look after the emergency
situations swiftly. Therefore, at the times of emergency and war, an
executive as an organ is provided with a wider scope to exercise its
powers to deal with such circumstances.

Complex Modern Administration

The contemporary administration have started dealing with
added tasks and duties, when it worked for ensuring
improved and developed environment for the citizens such
as ensuring their employment,health,education and other
professional activities. Therefore, the complexity in modern
administration and extension in number of state functions
towards the social and economic spheres has permitted for
the establishment of new kinds of legislation and hence, in
this way it provides wide-ranging power and controls to
varied authorities on various instances or event.
 Advantages of Delegated Legislation
Some of the main advantages of Delegated Legislation are:

 Saves cost and time when dealing with emergencies.

 More flexible as compared to non-delegated legislation.

 Helps in finding the bottlenecks.

 Sets up a new base for the amendment of statutes, which is

the demand of time.

 Helps in relieving the burden on Parliament.

 The affected person’s interest is maintained.

 Disadvantages of Delegated Legislation
Some of the main disadvantages of Delegated Legislation are:

 More claims for review of legislation.

 The influence of superior courts may cause interference.
 Authorities may follow the dictatorial principle.
 Increase in corruption and misuse of powers.
 Lack of legal knowledge among common people may trigger
unavoidable.

Slowly, the executive will start encroaching upon the legislature if

delegation is obscure.

 It is against the doctrine of separation of powers.

 The executive becomes more powerful.

Note: Controlled delegated legislation should mention all the criteria

like extension and enablement of the act, powers of the delegates and
authority to make and amend rules etc., in the parent statute.
 Procedural and Executive Control
There is no particular procedure for it until the legislature
makes it mandatory for the executive to follow certain rules
or procedure.
To follow a particular format it may take a long time which
will definitely defeat the actual objective of the act. Hence,
procedural control means that under Parent act certain
guidelines are given which need to be followed while
whether it is mandatory or directory to follow it or not. It
includes three components:
1. Pre-publication and consultation with an expert
authority,
2. Publication of delegated legislation.
3. Lying of rules.
It can be either Mandatory or Directory, to know, certain
specified parameters are given:
1. Scheme of the Act.
2. Intention of Legislature.
3. Language used for drafting purpose.
4. Inconvenience caused to the public at large scale.
And these four parameters were given in the case
Raza Buland Sugar Co. vs. Rampur Municipal Council
1. Judicial Control - Judicial review upgraded the rule of
law. The court has to see that the power delegated is
within the ambit of the constitution as prescribed.
Judicial review is more effective because courts do not
recommend but it clearly strikes down the rule which is
ultra vires in nature. As per Section 13(3) (a) “Law” is
defined under the Constitution of India which clearly
indicates that State should not make any law which
abridges the right given in Part iii of the Constitution. It
is dependent on two basic grounds:
1. It is ultra vires to the Constitution of India, and
2. It is ultra vires to the enabling Act.
 Case laws
Kruse v. Johnson 2

Facts: In this case, under the authority of the Local

Government Act 1888, the Kent County Council made by-
laws. This law states that nobody could play music or sing
a song within 50 yards of dwelling house in public place or
highway after being requested to stop by a constable. The
claimant was singing a hymn within 50 yards of the
dwelling house and had refused to stop after the constable
had told him to do so. He was given a penalty. He sought
for judicial review to declare that the by-law was void.
Judgment: Lord Russell CJ, giving the courts leading
judgment, held the by-law became valid on the ground that
it becomes no longer unreasonable, due to the fact that it
does not have a discriminatory impact on the population.

Chintaman Rao Case 3

Facts: Section 3 and 4 of the Central Province and Berar

Regulation of Manufacture of Beedis Act, 1948 grants
power to the Deputy Commissioner to fix the period of
agriculture season with respect to a certain village where
the Act applies. The Deputy Commissioner has the power

2
[1898] 12 QB 91
3
1951 AIR 118
to prohibit the manufacturing of bidis and no person is
authorized to manufacture bidis.
On 13th June 1950, an order was issued via the Deputy
Commissioner of Sagar prohibiting the people in certain
villages to manufacture bidis. When the case is dealt by the
Hon’ble Supreme Court, the period cited within the order
expired and another order covering the agricultural period
from 8th October 1950 to 18th November 1950 was issued
and the same order was questioned in the present case.
Does the question arise whether the impugned Act is falling
within the saving clause or excess of its provisions?
Judgment: It has been held in this case that prohibition of
making bidis in the agriculture season by the Deputy
Commissioner is violative of Article 19 1(g) of the
Indian Constitution.
 CONCLUSION
Delegated or subordinate legislation means rules of law made under the
skilled person of the Act of Parliament. In spite of the fact that
lawmaking is within the capacity of the lawmaking body, it might, by a
resolution, delegate its capacity to different bodies or people. The
resolution which delegates such power is known as the Enabling Act. By
Enabling Act the council sets out the wide rules and nitty-gritty
principles are instituted by the delegated authority.

If in India the control of Parliament over the delegated legislation has to

be made a living continuity, then it is important that the job of the
advisory groups of the Parliament must be fortified and a different law
like the Statutory Instruments Act, accommodating uniform standards of
laying and production, must be passed. The board of trustees might be
enhanced by a specific authority body to make the watchfulness of
assigned enactment progressively successful. Other than the different
measures mentioned above, it should be taken to reinforce the control of
Parliament over designated enactment. The tenets and standards created
by the Legal Executive should be connected by the necessities of the
advanced age. In spite of the fact that there are no express arrangements
in the Constitution of India to allow the appointment of authoritative
power, the legal pattern saw in regard of assigned enactment is as per the
aim of establishing fathers our Constitution whose principal concern was
the flexibility of the Constitution with changing needs of the time. If you
want to make certain that the power of delegated law in the arms of the
government is not misuse, it is vital to adopt powerful modes of control
as applicable in the USA which India has now not integrated yet.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Queen v. Burah, [1878] UKPC 26

2. Raj Narain Singh v.Chairman, Patna Administration Committee Air, 1954 AIR

3. In Re the Delhi Laws Act 1951 AIR 332

4. Chintaman Rao and Ors v. State of Madhya Pradesh

5. Jain, M.P. & Jain, S.N. :( 2007) Principles of Administrative law.

6. http://lawctopus.com

7. D.S. Nakara & others vs. Union of India [1982] INSC 103