Constitutional Law and Administrative Law
What is tested
Writ jurisdiction, service law and the limits of administrative discretion - the areas a District Judge meets as an appellate authority and in Article 226/227 matters before the High Court.
Core rules
- Article 226 is wider than Article 32 ('any other purpose'), but the High Court respects alternative remedies save where a fundamental right is breached or the order is wholly without jurisdiction (Whirlpool Corp. v. Registrar of Trade Marks).
- Article 227 is superintendence, not appeal: interference with findings of fact is confined to perversity or jurisdictional error.
- Article 14: classification needs intelligible differentia with a rational nexus (State of W.B. v. Anwar Ali Sarkar); arbitrary State action fails even where the classification looks sound (E.P. Royappa).
- Article 21: procedure must be fair, just and reasonable (Maneka Gandhi); privacy is protected (K.S. Puttaswamy), and restrictions must satisfy proportionality - legitimate aim, suitability, necessity, balancing (Modern Dental College).
- Article 311(2) requires an inquiry before dismissal; the proviso is construed strictly (Union of India v. Tulsiram Patel).
- Judicial review is part of the basic structure (Minerva Mills); Ninth Schedule laws are not immune (I.R. Coelho).
Worked example
A government servant is dismissed 'in the public interest' without inquiry, citing loss of confidence. The proviso to Article 311(2) permits dispensation only in three specified situations; loss of confidence is not one of them. The order is set aside; the State may still hold a regular inquiry, but reinstatement follows for the present. This is the standard fact pattern.
Traps
- Entertaining disputed questions of fact in a writ petition.
- Equating Article 227 with appellate power.
- Forgetting that 'State' includes instrumentalities (Ajay Hasia).