Administrative Law Basics

Public power comes from a text

An authority can do what the statute, the rules, and the Constitution allow. That starting point is why belongs in this subject. The court’s broader role is . The constitutional frame is . If you cannot point to the provision that created the power, you cannot yet say the authority exceeded it. A government circular is not always the statute. Read which document you are holding.

Natural justice and discretion

Natural justice, in the first class, means two things: hear the person affected, and do not let a judge decide their own cause. Later cases add what a fair hearing requires on those facts. Do not write that every decision needs a full trial. Do not write that no decision needs a hearing. Discretion is the space the statute leaves to the authority. Review asks whether the authority stayed inside that space. Labels such as illegality, irrationality, and proportionality are names courses use. Whether an Indian court used one of them in a case is a question for that case. This note will not invent the holding. Wednesbury is a foreign name you may see. It is not an Indian section.

How to write a problem answer

Identify the decision, the statute, and the person affected. Say which ground you are considering: no power, breach of procedure, or a use of discretion you can actually describe. If the facts do not say whether a hearing was offered, say that fact is missing. Do not quash the order yourself. Do not draft a writ.

A hypothetical about a cancelled licence

Hypothetical. A licence is cancelled by a one-line order. The problem does not say whether the holder was told or heard. A student writes “proportionality, quashed.” The rewrite says the statute that created the licence power has not been opened, the hearing fact is missing, and proportionality is a label that needs a case on the desk. The order is not quashed on the notepad.

A checklist for administrative problems

Start from the power. 1. Name the authority. 2. Open the provision that empowers it. 3. Ask whether a hearing was required and given. 4. Ask whether the decision-maker was disqualified. 5. Describe the discretion before you attack it. 6. Do not invent a test or a holding. 7. Do not file a writ from this note.

Kanoons Academy does not currently list a separate LAWCET, CLAT, or AP LAWCET batch in the catalogue; these notes are study material, and counselling is via . The nearest catalogue course is . That course teaches how to read an Act, a rule, and a judgment note. It is not an entrance-test batch, and the button on this page uses the course’s own name.