Administrative law IB

Administrative law is an ever-expanding subject in a developing society. During the first phase of Indian development, the emphasis was on the controlled economy with public sector being at the commanding heights. Since 1991, the governments have been pursuing the policy of liberalisation in which the State is supposed to be mainly concerned with infra structural development leaving ordinary business and trade to private enterprise. This also means that the State will provide the regulatory network for ensuring that private enterprise functions in consonance with public interest. A network of regulatory agencies, free from government control, but responsible to Parliament/Legislature which ensures that various competing enterprises compete for excellence without jeopardising public interest is a condition precedent for the success of development. With the creation of each of such agencies, there is a substantial addition to the corpus of the administrative law. The decisions of each of such agencies should be transparent and could be predicted with reasonable amount of certainty. Those decisions are also subject to judicial review and those agencies are also going to be subjected to legislative supervision. We already have such regulatory agencies such Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) and another similar agency for the power sector. Many more such agencies are likely to be set up in the near future. Market economy cannot achieve its desired ends unless there exists an efficient, dynamic and forward-looking regulatory system. Administrative law is bound to grow in size as well as quality in the coming decades.

While preparing this edition (6th), care is taken to update the book with all the recent developments including the case law and the legislation. The book has been substantially rewritten, re-edited and added. This book was intended to serve the needs of the students of Law pursuing their studies for LLB and LLM examinations. It was also intended to provide a good understanding of the principles of administrative law to practising lawyers. That remains the dominant purpose even of this edition. Therefore, care has been taken to maintain the size of the book. Unnecessary repetitions and overlaps have been avoided as far as possible. It is for the readers to say how far my effort has been successful.