Lectures on administrative law C.1
- 6th ed
- Allahabad Central law agency 1984
- 338p.
It is a great satisfaction to note that the fifth edition of this book received quite wide reception by the students. The present edition has been delayed owing to my pre-occupations with some Study Projects, assigned by the Lai Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.
Administrative law is growing at a very fast pace in India. With increas ed administrative regulations and discretionary powers of administrative authorities, the possibilities of encroachment on civil rights and liberties have considerably multiplied. Innumerable cases of public grievances against the operation of administrative powers are rising every day. A large number of cases against the government are coming up before the courts, where the decisions are setting new trends in the field of judicial remedies. A new wave of judicial activism, exhibited in the recent pronouncements of the Supreme Court and followed by the High Courts, has brought to the fore some crucial problems of administrative law and remedial justice to the people. The period since 1980's is proving very creative in the arena of redressal actions through judicial decisions. Since after the judgment in Menka Gandhi's case the court has been meticulously widening the horizons of personal liberty by setting aside the administrative actions affecting it in any way. The decisions of the Supreme Court in Kishore Singh v. State of Rajasthan, (A. I. R. 1981 S. C. 625) Biru Mahto v. D. M. Dhanbad, (A. I. R. 1982, S. C. 1539) are the illustrative cases of judicial upholding of personal liberty in our country. The liberali zation of Locus Standi rule has unfolded new chapters in Indian Administra tive Law. The concept of participative justice enunciated by the Supreme Court in the Kadra Pahadia case (A. I. R. 1981 S. C. 934), Miss Veena Sethi v. State of Bihar, (A. I. R. 1983, S. C. 339), Sheela Barse v. State of Maharash tra, (A. I. R. 1983, S. C. 378) and lastly Peoples Union for Democratic rights v. Union of India popularly known as Asiad case, (A. I. R. 1982 S. C. 1473). has set a very dynamic role of the Indian judiciary in delivering justice to the ignored, socially, economically and educationally disadvantaged specimen of humanity who could have never approached the court on account of their helplessness.
The goal of administrative law is in no way to stifle administration but to promote good administration and to develop public faith in it. With this end in view emphasis on the exercise of administrative powers in a lawful manner is laid by the courts. The institution of Lokpal and Lokayukt is also intended to achieve the same objective. Although the institution of Lokpal has not come into being and the existing legal controversies have made its fulfilment further difficult, yet its need is felt widely. The present edition of the book lucidly deals with all these problems of administrative law in changed perspective.
Every arduous effort has been made to bring out the book up to date. All the judicial pronouncements of the Supreme Court and of the High Courts on various aspects of administrative law till August, 1983 are duly incorporated in the present edition of the book.
The effectiveness of the Natural Justice as an instrument to check the otherwise unrestrained powers of administrative authorities has been maintain ed by the courts in their recent pronouncements. The liberal interpretation of the term 'authority' made under Article 12 of the Constitution so as to include all such bodies which are acting as an instrumentality of the government in any way, makes the statutory or non-statutory bodies amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the court. The decision of the Supreme Court in Som Prakash Rekhi v. Union of India, (A. I. R. 1981, S. C. 458) remains a guiding law on the point. Thus all the noteworthy pronouncements have been incorpo rated at proper places in this edition. There are a few areas, e. g., tortious liability of the government for the acts of its servants, where uncertainty still exists as no pronouncement of the Supreme Court has come to settle the issue of sovereign and non-sovereign functions of the state. Elaborate dis cussion of all the current problems of administrative law with the help of up to date materials is the notable feature of this edition.