Revision summary
Administration spends liberty and money, so a judicial check is necessary in a republic. Articles 14, 21, 32 and 226, and natural justice, are the core reasons. Forms include judicial review, five writs, statutory appeals, PIL, contempt, damages, and stays. Courts also test some arbitrary policy and delegated legislation. Control is necessary and bounded; courts should not run the tehsil.
Model answer
Introduction
Public administration spends the citizen’s liberty and money. Judicial control is the court’s check that this power stays inside law, reason, and rights. It is necessary in a republic, and it has several named forms.
Body
Why judicial control is necessary
- Administration is specialised and fast; without an external legal check it can become a private will in a khaki or a secretariat file.
- Rule of law and Articles 14, 21, 32 and 226 make the State answerable to a speaking judiciary, not only to a minister.
- Natural justice — hearing and an unbiased mind — is often the only shield a demolished hut or a dismissed clerk has.
- Corruption, mala fides, and ultra vires action need a forum that is not the same hierarchy that signed the note.
- Necessity is not a claim that courts should run the tehsil; it is a claim that illegal administration must be correctable.
Forms of judicial control
- Judicial review of administrative action: legality, constitutionality, proportionality, and the ground of unreasonableness.
- Writs under Articles 32 and 226: habeas corpus against illegal detention; mandamus to compel a public duty; prohibition and certiorari to stop or quash a quasi-judicial excess; quo warranto against a usurped office.
- Statutory appeals and revisions where a tax, service, or land statute itself sends the file to a tribunal or a court.
- Public interest litigation for a diffuse harm — pollution, bonded labour, prison — when the victim cannot easily sue.
- Contempt for disobedience of a court order, which is control of implementation, not only of the first judgment.
- Damages and compensation in tort or under public-law wrongs when the State’s negligence or rights-violation is proved.
- Injunctions and stays that freeze a demolition or a transfer while the dispute is heard.
- Review of delegated legislation and of some policy if it is arbitrary, not a substitute for every policy choice.
Limits
- Delay, cost, and expertise gaps can paralyse a needed project or protect a rich litigant.
- Judicial control is therefore necessary, bounded, and complementary to audit, legislature, and internal appeal.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD A[Admin action] --> J[Judicial control] J --> W[Writs review] J --> P[PIL appeal damages] W --> R[Rule of law] P --> R
Conclusion
Judicial control is necessary because administration without a legal check is power without a bridle. Its forms are review, writs, statutory appeals, PIL, contempt, damages, and stays. The court corrects illegality; it should not become the daily collector.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Ram Murti is a Government servant and lives with his old aged parents in Indore. One day during a field-visit he meets an 11-year-old orphan boy. The boy was in a miserable condition and homeless, with no one to look after him. Ram Murti brings the boy home and proposes that if the boy takes care of his aged parents, Ram Murti will give him a daily wage according to his needs and will also arrange for his education. Evaluate Ram Murti’s conduct from an ethical perspective.
Next question in the 2021 paper (Q15). View answer →
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Does every delayed file deserve a writ?
No. Exhaust ordinary remedies where they are real. A writ is for a legal right denied, not for every queue.
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Is PIL a substitute for administration?
PIL is a flashlight and a prod. Delivery still needs the department; the court cannot staff every ration shop.
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