Administrative Law: Natural Justice and Judicial Review
This domain covers legality, fairness and control of public power - delegated legislation, natural justice, judicial review and tribunals.
Natural justice
Two pillars:
- Audi alteram partem - notice, disclosure of material relied on, and a real opportunity to rebut.
- Nemo judex in causa sua - no bias, whether pecuniary, personal, departmental or policy-based. The test is whether a reasonable person would apprehend bias.
Quasi-judicial orders should be reasoned, though a statutory duty to give reasons is not universal.
Judicial review
Grounds recognised in the GCHQ case: illegality (acting beyond power, misdirecting law, fettering discretion), irrationality (Wednesbury unreasonableness - so absurd that no reasonable authority could have decided so) and procedural impropriety. Proportionality applies where Articles 14, 19 or 21 rights are engaged. Administrative action must be non-arbitrary under Article 14 and fair under Article 21.
Controls on delegated legislation
Parliamentary (laying, scrutiny committees), judicial (ultra vires, excessive delegation) and procedural (consultation, publication).
Tribunals and ombudsman
Articles 323A and 323B permit tribunals, which must remain independent and efficient. The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 and the RTI Act, 2005 supply non-judicial accountability.
Worked example
An officer who filed the complaint also decides the licence cancellation. No hearing cures this; the order is quashed for bias and remitted to a different authority. Where the bias is purely official hierarchy with no personal stake, courts often decline interference.
Traps
Natural justice may be excluded by statute in urgent public interest; a post-decisional hearing rarely substitutes for a fair pre-decisional one; legitimate expectation is ordinarily procedural, not a guarantee of the substantive outcome.