Unit 2: Constitutional and Administrative Law

Constitutional and Administrative Law -Doctrines, Landmark Cases and Recent Rulings

Recent Constitution Bench rulings surface in almost every Paper 2. These UGC NET Law constitutional law notes target what NTA actually asks: case chronology, doctrine-to-case matching and recent judgments. For practitioners, this is the toolkit behind every writ petition.

1. Preamble and the Basic Structure Doctrine

• Preamble: not part of the Constitution in Berubari (1960); held part of it in Kesavananda Bharati (1973). The 42nd Amendment (1976) added “socialist”, “secular” and “integrity”; Dr. Balram Singh v. Union of India (November 2024) upheld those insertions.

Exam tip: chronology questions on this table are near-certain. The Ninth Schedule cut-off, 24 April 1973, is the day Kesavananda was decided.

2. Fundamental Rights, Duties and Directive Principles

• Article 14: reasonable classification (intelligible differentia plus rational nexus) and the newer arbitrariness test from E.P. Royappa (1974).
• Article 21: Maneka Gandhi (1978, “procedure established by law” must be fair, just and reasonable); K.S. Puttaswamy (2017, privacy; overruled ADM Jabalpur); Navtej Singh Johar (2018).
• Reservation: Indra Sawhney (1992, 50% ceiling, creamy layer); Janhit Abhiyan (2022, EWS quota upheld 3:2); State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh (2024, sub-classification of SCs allowed).
• Duties and DPSP: Article 51A added by the 42nd Amendment on the Swaran Singh Committee’s advice; the 11th duty (education of children aged 6–14) came with the 86th Amendment (2002). DPSPs are non-justiciable (Art. 37), but Minerva Mills calls the FR–DPSP balance a basic feature.

3. Union–State Relations, Executive and Legislature

• Interpretive doctrines: pith and substance, colourable legislation, territorial nexus, harmonious construction, and repugnancy under Article 254.
• Governor: bound by aid and advice (Shamsher Singh, 1974); discretion is narrow (Nabam Rebia, 2016). In the Presidential Reference of 20 November 2025, a five-judge bench held that courts cannot impose timelines under Articles 200 and 201 and there is no “deemed assent”, though prolonged unexplained inaction invites limited review.
• Ordinances: repeated re-promulgation is a fraud on the Constitution (Krishna Kumar Singh, 2017).
• Anti-defection: Tenth Schedule upheld in Kihoto Hollohan (1992); the Speaker’s role revisited in Subhash Desai (2023).

4. Judiciary and Emergency Provisions

• Appointments: the three Judges cases (S.P. Gupta 1981; SC AoR Association 1993; Special Reference 1998) built the collegium; the NJAC was struck down in 2015.
• Writ jurisdiction: Article 32 is itself a fundamental right (Ambedkar’s “heart and soul”); Article 226 is wider (“any other purpose”); Article 142 enables “complete justice”.
• Emergencies: national (Art. 352; “armed rebellion” replaced “internal disturbance” by the 44th Amendment, 1978), State (Art. 356; judicially reviewable after S.R. Bommai, 1994) and financial (Art. 360, never invoked). Articles 20 and 21 can no longer be suspended.

5. Special Provisions and the Election Commission

• Article 370: its abrogation was upheld in In re Article 370 (11 December 2023). Articles 371–371J cover other States.
• Election Commission (Art. 324): Anoop Baranwal (2023) proposed a PM–Leader of Opposition–CJI committee; the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023 replaced the CJI with a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM.
• Electoral bonds: struck down in ADR v. Union of India (15 February 2024) under Article 19(1)(a) (voters’ right to information).

6. Administrative Law: Natural Justice and Judicial Review

• Natural justice: nemo judex in causa sua and audi alteram partem. A.K. Kraipak (1969) blurred the administrative–quasi-judicial divide; Tulsiram Patel (1985) upheld exclusions under Article 311(2).
• Delegated legislation: essential legislative functions cannot be delegated (In re Delhi Laws Act, 1951).
• Grounds of review: Wednesbury unreasonableness (1948); Lord Diplock’s illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety in the GCHQ case (1985); proportionality adopted in Om Kumar (2001); legitimate expectation.
• Tribunals: Chandra Kumar (1997) – judicial review under Articles 226 and 32 is part of the basic structure.
• Five writs: habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, certiorari and quo warranto.

Exam trap: mandamus does not lie against the President or Governors, or against a private body without a public duty; quo warranto can be sought by any person, not only the aggrieved party.

Practice MCQs (NTA pattern)

Q1. Arrange in chronological order: (I) Minerva Mills (II) Golaknath (III) I.R. Coelho (IV) Kesavananda Bharati

(a) IV, II, I, III  (b) II, I, IV, III  (c) II, IV, I, III  (d) II, IV, III, I

Q2. Match List I with List II: (A) Shamsher Singh (B) S.R. Bommai (C) Kihoto Hollohan (D) L. Chandra Kumar | (I) Tenth Schedule (II) Judicial review over tribunals (III) Aid and advice binds the Governor (IV) Article 356

(a) A-IV, B-III, C-I, D-II  (b) A-III, B-IV, C-I, D-II  (c) A-III, B-IV, C-II, D-I  (d) A-I, B-IV, C-III, D-II

Q3. Assertion (A): Articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended during a national emergency. Reason (R): The 44th Amendment, 1978 amended Article 359.

(a) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A  (b) Both are true, but R is not the correct explanation  (c) A is true, R is false  (d) A is false, R is true

Q4. In the GCHQ case, Lord Diplock classified the grounds of judicial review as: (a) bias, malice, error of law (b) proportionality, legality, fairness (c) excess of jurisdiction, error, bias (d) illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety

Q5. Under the 2023 Act, the committee that selects the Chief Election Commissioner comprises: (a) PM, Leader of Opposition, CJI (b) PM, Leader of Opposition, a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM (c) President, PM, CJI (d) PM, Speaker, Leader of Opposition

Answer key: Q1 (c), Q2 (b), Q3 (a), Q4 (d), Q5 (b)

Disclaimer: This study material is for educational and exam-preparation purposes only.  Facts and figures are based on sources available as of October 2026; aspirants should verify them against the latest official syllabus, notifications and standard textbooks before the exam.