MODULE II

Administrative law is that branch of law that deals with powers, functions and
responsibilities of various organs of the state. There is no single universal definition of
‘administrative law’ because it means different things to different theorists. Administrative
Law is, in fact, the body of those which rules regulate, and control the administration.

Administrative Law is that branch of law that is concerned with the composition of power,
duties, rights, and liabilities of the various organs of the Government that are engaged in
public administration. Under it, we study all those rules laws, and procedures that are helpful
in properly regulating and controlling the administrative machinery. Administrative law is
part of the branch of law commonly referred to as public law, the law that regulates the
relationship between the citizen and the state and which involves the exercise of state
power. So, it is a part of the legal framework for public administration.
Mainly there are three organs of a state - legislative, executive and judiciary. The legislature
is responsible for making the laws, the executive is responsible with the implementation of
the laws and judiciary is responsible for reviewing laws and executive powers supervising
justice and settlement of disputes. But at times the legislature is unable to come up with the
required quality and quantity of legislations because of limitations of time, the technical
nature of legislation and the rigidity of their enactments. Similarly, justice through judiciary
is sometimes technical, expensive and slow. To fill this gap of legislature and judiciary states
have empowered their executives (administrative) branch with certain powers. The ambit of
administration is wide and embraces following elements:-
1. It makes policies,
2. It executes, administers and adjudicates the law
3. It exercises legislative powers and issues rules, bye- laws and orders of a general nature.

DEFINITIONS BY JURISTS

Austin has defined administrative Law.

As the law, which determines the ends and modes to which the sovereign power shall be
exercised. In his view, the sovereign power shall be exercised either directly by the monarch
or directly by the subordinate political superiors to whom portions of those are delegated or
committed in trust.
Bernard Schawartz has defined Administrative Law as “the law applicable to those
administrative agencies which possess delegated legislation and adjudicatory authority.”
Jennings has defined Administrative Law as “the law relating to the administration. It
determines the organization, powers, and duties of administrative authorities.”

Dicey in the 19th century defines it as. */-//

Firstly, a portion of a nation’s legal system which determines the legal statues and liabilities
of all State officials.
Secondly, defines the rights and liabilities of private individuals in their dealings with public
officials. Thirdly, specifies the procedure by which those rights and liabilities are enforced.
This definition suffers from certain imperfections. It does not cover several aspects of
administrative law, e.g. it excludes the study of several administrative authorities such as
public corporations which are not included within the expression “State officials,” it
excludes the study of various powers and functions of administrative authorities and their
control. His definition is mainly concerned with one aspect of administration. Law, namely,
judicial control of public officials.
Definition by Ivor Jennings in his "The Law and the Constitution, 1959" provided the
following definition of the term "administrative law". According to him, "administrative law
is the law relating to the administrative authorities".
Ivor Jennings defined administrative law as the law relating to administration. It
determines the organization, powers, and duties of administrative authorities.
This formulation is too broad and general as it does not differentiate between
administrative and constitutional law.
It excludes the manner of exercise of powers and duties.
Administrative law is the by-product of the ever-increasing functions of the Governments.
States are no longer police states, limited to maintaining internal order and protecting from
external threats. These, no doubt continue to be the basic functions but a state that is limited
to this traditional role will de-legitimize itself. With the rise of political consciousness, the
citizens of a state are no longer satisfied with the state's provisioning of traditional services.
The modern state is, therefore, striving to be a welfare state. It has taken the task to improve
the social and economic condition of its people. It involves undertaking a large number of
complex tasks. Development produces great economic and social changes and creates
challenges in the fields of health, education, pollution, inequality, etc. These complex
problems cannot be solved except with the growth of administration. States have also taken
over a number of functions, which were previously left to private enterprises. All this has led
to the origin and the growth of administrative law.

According to K. C. Davis, "Administrative law as the law concerns the powers and
procedures of administrative agencies, including especially the law governing judicial review
of administrative action".
Definition by Prof. Wade. According to Wade (Administrative Law, 1967) any attempt to
define administrative law will create a number of difficulties. But if the powers and
authorities of the state are classified as legislative, administrative and judicial, then
administrative law might be said "the law which concerns administrative authorities as
opposed to the others".
There are some difficulties with this definition also. It fails to distinguish administrative law
from constitutional law Like Jennings's definition mentioned above; this is also a very wide
definition. It includes the entire legal field except the legislature and the Judiciary. It also
includes the law of local government. It is also said that it is not possible to divide completely
and definitely the functions of legislative, executive, and judiciary. It is very difficult to say
precisely where legislation ends and administration begins. Though enacting a law is the
functioning of the legislature the administrative authorities, legislate under the powers
delegated to them by the legislature and this delegated legislation is certainly a part of
administrative law.
As stated by Jain and Jain, “Administrative law deals with the structure, powers, and
function of the organs of administration, the limits of their powers, the methods, and
procedures followed by them in exercising their powers and functions, the method by which
their powers are controlled including the legal remedies available to a person against them
when his rights are infringed by their operation”.
This definition states that administrative law addresses the following four areas: It addresses
the nature and scope of administrative authorities; it establishes the bounds of those
authorities; it specifies the processes that these authorities must follow in the exercise of their
authority; and it exercises judicial and other forms of control over these administrative
authorities.

SCOPE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

The scope of Administrative law can be narrated as under: -
The methods and procedures of these Administrative organs are also studied by this new
branch of law.
It covers the nature of the structure, powers, and functions of all these administrative organs.
It also makes available all the relevant remedies to the persons whose rights are infringed by
the operations of these organs during the course of Administration.
Why and How the Administrative Organs are to be controlled is also viewed by the
Administrative law.
Public Law/Private Law Divide
The boundaries of administrative law extend only when administrative agencies and public
officials exercise statutory or public powers, or when performing public duties. In both
civil and common-law countries, these types of functions are sometimes called ―public law
functions to distinguish them from ―private law functions.
The former governs the relationship between the state and the individual, whereas the later
governs the relationship between individual citizens and some forms of relationships with
the state, like relationships based on government contracts. For example, if a citizen
works in a state-owned factory and is dismissed, he or she would sue as a ―private law
function. However, if he is a civil servant, he or she would sue as a ―public law function.
Similarly, if residents of the surrounding community were concerned about a decision to
enlarge the state-owned factory because of environmental pollution, the legality of the
decision could be reviewed by the courts as a ―public law function. The point here is that
the rules and principles of administrative law are applicable in a relationship between
citizens and the state; they do not extend to cases where the nature of the relationship is
characterized by a private law function.

Substance vs. Procedure

Many of the definitions and approaches to administrative law are limited to procedural
aspects of the subject. The focus of administrative law is mainly on the manner and
procedure of exercising power granted to administrative agencies by the legislature. Fox
describes the trend and interaction between substance and procedure as it is the unifying force
of the administrative process – in dramatic contrast to the wide variety of substantive
problems with which agencies deal- that has persuaded most administrative law professors to
concentrate on agency procedure rather than agency substance. Hence, to a wider extent,
the study of administrative law has been limited to analyzing the manner in which matters
move through an agency, rather than the wisdom of the matters themselves. With respect to
judicial review, the basic question asked is not whether a particular decision is ―right, or
whether the judge, or a Minister, or officials have come to a different decision. The questions
are what is the legal limit of power or reasonable limit of discretion the law has
conferred on the official? That power been exceeded, or otherwise unlawfully exercised?
Therefore, administrative law is not concerned with the merits of the decision, but with the
decision making process.

SOURCES OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

Constitution of India: It is the primary source of administrative law. Article 73 of the

Constitution provides that the executive power of the Union shall extend to matters with
respect to which the Parliament has the power to make laws. Similar powers are provided to
States under Article 62. Indian Constitution has not recognized the doctrine of separation of
powers in its absolute rigidity. The Constitution also envisages tribunals, public sector, and
government liability which are important aspects of administrative law.
Acts/ Statutes: Acts passed by the central and state governments for the maintenance of
peace and order, tax collection, economic and social growth empower the administrative
organs to carry on various tasks necessary for it. These Acts list the responsibilities of the
administration, limit their power in certain respects and provide for grievance redressal
mechanism for the people affected by the administrative action.
Ordinances, Administrative directions, notifications and Circulars: Ordinances are issued
when there are unforeseen developments and the legislature is not in session and therefore
cannot make laws. The ordinances allow the administration to take necessary steps to deal
with such developments. Administrative directions, notifications and circulars are issued by
the executive in the exercise of power granted under various Acts.
Judicial decisions: The Judiciary is the final arbiter in case of any dispute between various
wings of government or between the citizen and the administration. The courts through their
various decisions on the exercise of power by the administration, and the liability of the
government in case of breach of contract or tortuous acts of government servants lay down
administrative law that guide their future conduct.

Administrative Discretion − It is nearly impossible for government to function without

giving some discretion to its officials considering the different situations and circumstances.
But since such discretion is prone to be abused therefore it is necessary to have a system in
place to ensure fair exercise of such discretion. − Administrative Discretion means the
freedom of an administrative authority to choose from amongst various alternatives but with
reference to rules of reason and justice and not according to personal whims. The exercise of
discretion should not be arbitrary, vague and fanciful, but legal and regular.
Judicial Control over Administrative Actions − Public administration exercises a large
volume of power to meet the citizens need in modern democratic welfare state. Due to this
there is a number of chances of them becoming arbitrary. So it is very necessary to control
them through Judicial Control. − The underlying object of judicial control is to ensure that
the authority does not abuse (misuse) its power and the individual receives just and fair
treatment.