Administrative Law

Introduction
 Administrative law is the law relating to the control of governmental power.
 The primary objective of administrative law is to limit the powers of the government to protect
citizens against their abuse.
 In other words, we can define administrative law as the body of rules, regulations, orders, and
decisions created by the administrative agencies of government.
Meaning, Nature and Scope
 Administrative law is the study of law that governs the activities of the administrative agencies of the
government which comprises:

 Legislative: Legislature rule making

 Executive: Implementation of law
 Adjudication: Adjudication or giving judgments

Some Notable Points

 Administrative Law is the branch of public law.

 It deals with the relationship of individuals with the government.
 It determines the organisation and power structure of the administration or the quasi-judicial
authorities.

Definitions of Administrative Law

According to the Indian Institute of Law:

 Administrative law deals with the part and the functions of the administrative authorities.
 The procedure to be followed by these authorities in the exercise of such powers.
 The remedies available to the aggrieved person when authorities abuse of the powers

According to Ivor Jennings

 “Administrative law is the law relating to the administration.
 It determines the organisation, powers and duties of the administrative authorities.”

According to Wade
 “Administrative law is the law relating to the control of the governmental powers.”
 According to him the primary object of the administrative law is to limit the powers of Government
and to prevent citizens against their abuse.

According to KC Davis
 “Administrative law is the law concerning the powers and procedure of the administrative agencies,
including especially the law governing the judicial review of the administrative actions.”
Nature and Scope of Administrative Law
Not a codified Law:
 Administrative law is not codified like the IPC or law of the contracts. It is based on the
constitution.
Judge made law:
 It is essentially a judge made law and it is a branch of public law which deals with the constitution
and delegation of power.
Deals with the organisation:
 Administrative Law deals with organisation and powers of the administrative and quasi-
administrative authorities.
Concerned with the official actions:
 Administrative Law is primarily concerned with the official action and the procedure by which
official action is reached.
 Example: Rule Making, Rule Application, Monitoring actions or pure administration.
Control Mechanism:
 It includes control mechanism (judicial review) by which the administrative authorities are kept
within bounds and made effective.
Authorities:
 Administrative law is derived from the authorities from the constitutional and statutory law.
Rights:
 Administrative Law relates to the individual rights as well as public needs and ensures transparency,
open and honest governance which is more people friendly.
Means or the End:
 The study of the administrative law is not an end in itself, but it is a means.
Emergence and development:
 Administrative law emerges and develops wherever and whenever any person becomes the victim of
the arbitrary exercise of the public power. Administrative law I not the branch of the philosophy of
law, but of sociology of law.
Branches which govern:
 It is the body of law which governs the activities of the administrative authorities of the government.
 Government agency action includes rule making, rule adjudication, enforcement of specific
regulations and the related agenda.
Reasons for the growth of Administrative Law
 In India, since the Mauryan and Gupta age, there has been the administration of the legislation, rule
adjudication and the related provisions.
 There were many reasons which accounts for the ridden growth of the administrative law.
 The following are the reasons for the growth of administrative law:

Concept of Welfare State

 We can see the evolution of welfare state concept.
 The concept was developed during the 10th and 20th century.
 According to this concept, the State administration is to achieve maximum welfare of the masses.

Inadequate Judicial System

 Judiciary was slow, costly, unexpected, complex and formalistic in nature.
 Overburdening of judicial system due to which speedy disposal was not possible,
 and also resulted in strikes and lockouts in disputes between employers and employees.
 To solve above problems, need for tackling arose and as a result, industrial tribunals and labour
tribunals and labour courts were established.
 These tribunals are not courts but executive authorities having judicial powers.

Inadequate Legislative
 The legislature has no time to legislate upon the day-to-day ever-changing needs of the society.
 Detailed procedure made by the legislature were found to be defective and inadequate.
 All these resulted in the delegation of some of the legislative powers to the administrative authorities.
Scope of Experimentation
 As the administrative law is not codified law, so there is enough scope of modification.
 As per the modification it as per the requirement of the state’s machinery.
 Hence, it is more flexible and the rights legislating the procedure need not be followed again and
again.

Increasing demand from people

 There was an increase in the demand for the from the people because merely defining the rights of
the citizens was not sufficient but state needs to solve problems as well.

To take preventive measures

 Administrative authorities can take preventive measures like licensing, rate fixing etc.
 They can also take effective measures for the enforcement of preventive measures like enforcement
of suspension, revocation or cancellation of license, destruction of contaminated articles.

Increasing population
 Increase in the population creates a burden upon the legislative processes to implement various laws
for various needs of the growing population.
Administrative Law and Constitutional Law
 A Constitution is the supreme law of the country.
 No law is above the Constitution of India and hence, every law must satisfy its provisions and not be
in its violation.
 So, administrative law is subordinate to constitutional law.
 Constitution is the genus, administrative law is a species.
 Constitution deals with the structure of the State and its various organs, whereas administrative law
deals only with the administration of the State.
 While Constitution touches all branches of law and deals with general principles relating to
organization and powers of the various organs of the State, administrative law deals only with the
powers and functions of the administrative authorities.
In a nutshell, the administrative authorities should follow the Constitution first and then work as per the
administrative law.
Sources of Administrative Law
1. Constitutional law
2. Precedents or judicial precedents or case law
3. Statutes and Delegated legislation
4. Ordinances by the president and Governor’s
5. Reports of the committee and commissions