Landmark Judgments of Administrative Law
The 24 leading Administrative Law cases — each with a full brief (facts, issues, held, ratio). Verified against the original judgment. Free to read.
Judicial review — Wednesbury & proportionality
- Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd. v Wednesbury Corporation A court may interfere with a discretionary decision only if it is one no reasonable authority could ever have reached.
- Ranjit Thakur v Union of India A punishment so strikingly disproportionate to the misconduct as to shock the conscience is irrational and not immune from judicial review on the ground of proportionality.
- Om Kumar v Union of India Proportionality is applied as primary review for restrictions on fundamental freedoms; Wednesbury is applied as secondary review where punishment is challenged as arbitrary under Article 14.
- R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex parte Daly A blanket policy interfering with a basic right more than is necessary is ultra vires; the least intrusive means must be adopted (proportionality).
- Coimbatore District Central Cooperative Bank v Coimbatore District Central Cooperative Bank Employees Association Punishment grossly disproportionate to the misconduct can be judicially reviewed under proportionality, but a writ court cannot substitute its view where the penalty is not shockingly excessive.
Delegated legislation & excessive delegation
- In re Delhi Laws Act, 1912 Legislature may delegate non-essential functions but must retain essential legislative power; delegation of power to repeal or amend existing law is excessive and void.
- Raj Narain Singh v Chairman, Patna Administration Committee Power to pick a single section for extension to a new area, when exercised so as to change the policy of the Act (here by imposing a tax without the statutory right of hearing), amounts to delegation of essential legislative function and is ultra vires.
- Gwalior Rayon Silk Mfg. (Wvg.) Co. Ltd. v Assistant Commissioner of Sales Tax Validity of delegation is tested by the policy-and-guidelines standard, not by the mere ability to repeal the enabling Act; the abdication test was rejected by the majority.
- Kerala Samsthana Chethu Thozhilali Union v State of Kerala Subordinate legislation must have a reasonable nexus with the policy and object of the parent Act; a rule compelling toddy shops to employ retrenched arrack workers is ultra vires the Abkari Act and Article 14.
Natural justice — audi alteram partem & rule against bias
- Manak Lal v Dr. Prem Chand Actual proof of prejudice is unnecessary; a reasonable ground for assuming a possibility of bias is enough to vitiate proceedings, for justice must not only be done but be seen to be done.
- A.K. Kraipak v Union of India Rules of natural justice, including the rule against bias, apply to administrative functions and not merely to quasi-judicial ones; real likelihood of bias vitiates selection.
- Maneka Gandhi v Union of India Audi alteram partem is implicit in fair procedure under Article 21; impounding a passport without pre-decisional hearing is bad, though a genuine post-decisional hearing may cure the defect.
- Swadeshi Cotton Mills v Union of India Pre-decisional hearing may be dispensed with only in genuine emergencies brooking no delay, and even then must be replaced by post-decisional remedial hearing; mere urgency is no ground for exclusion.
- Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. v B. Karunakar A delinquent employee is entitled to a copy of the enquiry officer's report before the disciplinary authority decides; non-supply breaches natural justice, but the order is set aside only if prejudice is shown.
- R. v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No. 2) Automatic disqualification of a judge extends beyond pecuniary interest to a non-pecuniary interest in promoting a cause where the judge is allied with a party to the litigation.
- State of Punjab v V.K. Khanna To vitiate administrative action there must be a real likelihood (real danger) of bias, not mere apprehension; allegations of mala fides require cogent, positive evidence and cannot rest on surmise.
Writs, PIL, locus standi & administrative discretion
- Pratap Singh v State of Punjab Even where the government has legal power to take disciplinary action, it cannot exercise that power mala fide to satisfy a private or personal grudge.
- G. Sadanandan v State of Kerala A detention order that is mala fide or the result of a casual approach is liable to be quashed; the detaining authority must place sufficient material on proper affidavit denying such allegations.
- Fertilizer Corporation Kamgar Union v Union of India Restrictive rules of standing are antithetical to a healthy administrative law; standing in public interest litigation must receive liberal reception at the judicial doorsteps.
- S.P. Gupta v Union of India Any member of the public with sufficient interest may seek judicial redress for public injury under Articles 32/226, including by letter to the court.
Promissory estoppel & legitimate expectation
- Union of India v. Anglo Afghan Agencies Government is bound by representations made in an export-promotion scheme on which exporters acted; executive may be held to its promise on equitable principles.
- Motilal Padampat Sugar Mills Co. Ltd. v. State of Uttar Pradesh Promissory estoppel is a substantive doctrine enforceable against the Government in its executive/administrative functions; the State, having promised a sales-tax holiday on which the company acted, could not resile.
- Food Corporation of India v. Kamdhenu Cattle Feed Industries A legitimate expectation is not by itself an enforceable right, but failure to give it due weight may render a decision arbitrary; due consideration of it is part of the rule of non-arbitrariness under Article 14.
- Union of India v. Hindustan Development Corporation A claim based on mere legitimate expectation, without more, cannot ipso facto found relief under Article 14; the doctrine is confined within general legal limitations and is not a key that unlocks all of natural justice.
