Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

Both A1 and A2 are true.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, England's ombudsman under the Parliamentary Commissioner Act, 1967, investigates complaints, referred through Members of Parliament, from people who claim to have suffered injustice in consequence of maladministration in the exercise of administrative functions by government departments. That is A1.

Section 12(3) of the same Act provides that the Commissioner may not question the merits of a decision taken without maladministration in the exercise of a discretion. He examines how decisions are made, not policy or the merits of discretion. That is A2, so neither assertion is false.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : B

The US Freedom of Information Act applies only to federal agencies.

The Freedom of Information Act, 1966 gives any person the right to request records held by federal executive-branch agencies, such as departments, regulatory commissions and government corporations, subject to nine exemptions such as national security and personal privacy.

Congress and the federal courts are not 'agencies' under the Act and are outside it. Parts of the Executive Office of the President whose sole function is to advise the President are also excluded, so the option naming them is wrong too.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

Dicey enumerated the doctrine of the rule of law.

In Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885), A.V. Dicey set out three meanings (the paper's 'proportions', for propositions) of the rule of law: the supremacy of regular law as opposed to arbitrary power, equality before the law of all persons, officials included, before the ordinary courts, and the constitution as the result of the ordinary law of the land as declared by the courts.

Separation of powers is Montesquieu's doctrine, while state action and the political question doctrine are concepts of American constitutional law.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : B

What is preserved is the Rule of Law.

In Dicey's account, one meaning of the rule of law is equality before the law: every person, official or private citizen, is subject to the ordinary law administered by the ordinary courts. Because disputes between citizen and government in Britain and the US are decided by those courts, and tribunals remain under their control, the rule of law in this sense is maintained, unlike under the French system of separate administrative courts.

Separation of powers, judicial independence and legitimate expectation are related ideas, but the passage is describing Dicey's rule of law.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : B

Federal judges are appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Article II, Section 2 of the US Constitution provides that the President shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint judges of the Supreme Court and other officers. In practice the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings and the full Senate confirms by a simple majority vote. Federal judges then hold office during good behaviour.

The Cabinet has no constitutional role in appointments, the Vice-President only presides over the Senate, and the Chief Justice does not confirm nominations.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : A

It is the Constitution of the United States of America.

Article I, Section 1 of the US Constitution provides that all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Article II vests executive power in the President, and Article III judicial power in the Supreme Court.

Australia's legislature is the Parliament under Chapter I of its Constitution, Canada's is the Parliament under the Constitution Act, 1867, and India's is the Parliament under Article 79. None uses the word Congress.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

The Canadian federation is primarily contained in the British North America Act, 1867.

The British North America Act, 1867 (now called the Constitution Act, 1867) created the Dominion of Canada as a federation and distributes legislative powers between the federal Parliament (section 91) and the provincial legislatures (section 92).

The Constitution Act, 1982 patriated the constitution and added the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects rights rather than setting up the federal division. A Crown proceedings statute concerns suits against the government.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : B

Indian amendments to such provisions need ratification by one-half of the states.

Under Article 368(2) of the Indian Constitution, an amendment affecting the federal provisions (such as the election of the President, the distribution of legislative powers, the Supreme Court and High Courts, or representation of states in Parliament) needs a special majority in each House of Parliament and ratification by the legislatures of not less than one-half of the states.

Three-quarters of the states is the US requirement under Article V of its Constitution, which the stem itself quotes. One-third and one-quarter are not used in either constitution.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : D

The statute is the Constitutional Reform Act, 2005 (printed 'Constitution Reform Act').

The Act ended the Lord Chancellor's role as head of the judiciary and as a judge, transferring it to the Lord Chief Justice, and placed a statutory duty on ministers to uphold the independence of the judiciary. It also created the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which replaced the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords in 2009, and set up the independent Judicial Appointments Commission.

The Act of Settlement (1701) gave judges security of tenure, the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, 1876 created the Law Lords, and the Supreme Court Act, 1981 dealt with the Senior Courts of England and Wales; none reshaped the Lord Chancellor's role.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : D

The one that is not essential to a federal constitution is flexibility.

A federal constitution divides power between the centre and the units, so it must be written, it must be supreme over both levels of government, and it must be rigid enough that neither level can change the division of powers on its own. Rigidity, not flexibility, is therefore the usual mark of federalism, along with an independent judiciary to settle disputes.

Distribution of powers, a written constitution and supremacy of the constitution are all standard essentials of a federal constitution.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : A

The true statement is that discretion is the power to make choice between different courses of action.

Discretion means that the law leaves the authority free to choose among two or more lawful courses of action, or between acting and not acting. That freedom must still be exercised reasonably, in good faith and for the purpose for which it was given.

Choice by personal liking is exactly what discretion does not allow; it would be arbitrariness. Legitimate expectation and natural justice are limits on how discretion is exercised, not definitions of what it is.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

Administrative law rests on both (A) and (B).

The first postulate is that every power of the administration must come from law, from the Constitution or a statute; the administration has no inherent power of its own. The second is that no power is absolute or uncontrolled, however wide its terms: it must be exercised within its limits, for its proper purpose, reasonably and fairly, and the courts can review it. These two ideas underlie the whole subject, from ultra vires to judicial review.

Since each statement is a basic postulate, neither single option is complete, and 'None of the above' is wrong.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

The case is State of Orissa v. Dr. Binapani Dei.

In this 1967 case, the State had redetermined the date of birth of a medical officer, and so her date of retirement, without giving her a hearing. The Supreme Court held that even an administrative order which involves civil consequences must be made consistently with the rules of natural justice, so a hearing was required. The decision blurred the old distinction under which only quasi-judicial bodies had to observe natural justice.

That line was carried further in A. K. Kraipak v. Union of India (1969). The other cases named are not the authority for this principle.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : B

The definition is Sir Ivor Jennings'.

In The Law and the Constitution, Jennings defined administrative law as the law relating to the administration, which determines the organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities. It is the standard broad definition quoted in Indian textbooks.

A. V. Dicey, by contrast, described administrative law narrowly, in terms of the French droit administratif, and denied that England had any such separate body of law. Griffith and Street defined it by reference to the operation and control of administrative authorities, and Maitland is known for his definition of constitutional law, not this one.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

The power of review is conferred by Section 229 of the Rajasthan Tenancy Act, 1955.

Section 229 lets the Board of Revenue and every other revenue court review its own decree or order, on the grounds and subject to the conditions of the Code of Civil Procedure, such as discovery of new evidence or an error apparent on the record.

Section 207 makes the suits and applications listed in the Act's schedule triable exclusively by revenue courts, and the other sections named do not confer the power of review.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : A

Eviction is provided for by Section 91 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956.

Section 91 deals with unauthorised occupation of land. A person who occupies, without lawful authority, land that is the property of or at the disposal of the State Government or a local authority is treated as a trespasser and may be summarily evicted by the Tehsildar, who may also levy a penalty and forfeit any crop or structure.

Section 90-A deals with the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes, and none of the other sections named is the provision for summary eviction of such a trespasser.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

The key is Bee farming and collecting honey.

Section 2 of the Rajasthan Relief of Agricultural Indebtedness Act, 1957 defines agriculture by a list: the raising of annual or periodical crops and garden produce, horticulture, the planting and upkeep of orchards, the reserving of land for fodder grazing or thatching grass, and the breeding of cattle, camels, sheep or goats. Horticulture (A), breeding of cattle, camels, sheep or goats (B) and reserving land for fodder grazing or thatching grass (D) each appear in that list word for word.

Bee farming and collecting honey is not in the list, so it is the one activity the question asks for. I read the list from reproductions of the Act, and could not see the exact lead-in word of the definition (whether it says 'includes'), so the answer rests on the keyed activity being the only one absent from the statutory list.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

The Commission advocated an Ombudsman-type institution in 1966.

The first Administrative Reforms Commission, set up in 1966, submitted that year an interim report on the problems of redress of citizens' grievances. It recommended two Ombudsman-type authorities: a Lokpal to deal with complaints against ministers and secretaries at the Centre and in the States, and Lokayuktas for other officials.

The first Lokpal Bill was introduced in 1968, and the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was passed only in 2013. The years 1956, 1976 and 1986 do not match the Commission's report.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : C

Both the Assertion and the Reason are correct statements, but the Reason does not explain the Assertion, so the answer is both correct, R not the correct explanation of A. An Ombudsman, a Swedish word, is an officer appointed by the legislature to examine complaints against administrative action, and M. C. Setalvad, the first Attorney General of India, did propose the idea of an Ombudsman at the All India Lawyers' Conference in 1962.

The Reason tells who first proposed the idea in India; it says nothing about what the word means or what the officer does, so it is not an explanation of the Assertion. The options saying that either statement is false are wrong for the same reason.

Your Answer : (Not Answered)

Correct Answer : A

The Central Vigilance Commission was established in 1964, by a Government of India resolution on the recommendation of the Santhanam Committee on Prevention of Corruption. It received statutory status under the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003.

The other years are distractors. None of 1981, 1985 or 1988 is the year of its establishment; 1988 is the year of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which is a separate law.