Law and You > Administrative Law > Growth of Administrative Law
In this article, we shall study the reasons for the growth of administrative law. The following factors are responsible for the growth of administrative law:
Change in a Role Played by the State:
There is a radical change in the philosophy of the role played by the state. Administrative law is the by-product of the growing socio-economic functions of the State. The traditional functions of any State are defence, collection of revenue, maintenance of law and order, and administration of justice. The concept of welfare state was developed in the 20th century. Welfare State is a State besides performing functions of defence, collection of revenue, maintenance of law and order, and administration of justice also performs the functions of eliminate poverty and exploitation, promote literacy, provide employment, manufacture and distribute essential commodities, remove social and gender bias, provides education, run railway and postal services, prevents unfair and restrictive and unfair trade practices, protect human rights, protect the poor and disadvantaged, conserve environment and carry out all possible activities for welfare of its citizen.
The administrative law is the most outstanding phenomena in the welfare state of today. This lead to increased functions of the State. Increase in functions of the states created complexities. Therefore it was necessary to develop administrative field to cater to these increased functions.
Inadequacy of Judiciary:
The judicial system was proved to be an inadequate to decide and settle all types of disputes. It was slow, costly, inept, complex and formalistic. It is overburdened with the huge array of pending cases. Thus speedy disposal of suites is not possible. Therefore quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative bodies are given impetus, to reduce the already existing load on the judiciary. It is to be noted that the important problems could not be solved by mere literally interpreting the provisions of some statutes, but required consideration of various other factors and it could not be done by the ordinary courts of law. In such case, the judiciary lacks expertise in specialized fields like tax, labour laws, environment, etc. Hence, the need for tribunals arose. Tribunals are constituted with experts in concerned subject. Examples of tribunals are industrial tribunals, tax tribunals, labour courts, green courts, etc.
Slow Pace and Inadequacy of Legislature:
Legislating procedure is lengthy, time-consuming, formal, slow and inadequate. Besides, the members of legislature lack expertise in the field in which the legislation is being made.At the same time, the legislature is overburdened and it has no time to legislate upon the day-to-day ever-changing needs of the society. Therefore, it’s neither pragmatic nor possible for the legislature to devote enough time to discuss everything to the minutest detail. It was impossible for it to lay down detailed rules and procedures, and even when detailed provisions were laid down by the legislature, they have found to be defective and inadequate.
Therefore, it was necessary to delegate some powers to the administrative authorities. Therefore, the legislature provides the bare skeleton of all rules and regulation and empowers the executive to breathe life into it by filling the requisite details i.e. flesh and bones.
Possibility of Taking Preventive Action:
Unlike judiciary, administrative authorities can take preventive measures. Unlike regular courts of law, they do not have to wait for parties to come before them with disputes. In many cases, these preventive actions may prove to be more effective and useful than punishing a person after he has committed a breach of law. As freeman says, ‘Inspection and grading of meat answers the consumer’s need more adequately than does a right to sue the seller after the consumer injured”
For example, Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) is established in the field on income tax in respect of assessment of income-tax liability. It pronounces rulings on what would happen when certain course of action is taken. Such rulings are binding on both the applicant (assesse) and the income-tax department. It saves a lot of expenses, time in litigation.
Better Enforcement:
Administrative authorities being well equipped, can take effective steps for the enforcement of the aforesaid preventive measures e.g. suspension, revocation and cancellation of license, destruction of contaminated articles etc., which are not generally available through regular courts of law.
Practical and Functional Approach:
Administrative law deals with the everyday needs of the people and the ground realities. The administrative authorities by their very nature, can avoid technicalities. Administrative law can adopt a functional approach rather than a theoretical and legislative. They possess technical expertise in the subject. The traditional judiciary is conservative, rigid, procedural and technical, and may have no expertise in the subject under consideration. It is impossible for courts to decide cases without formality and technicality. Administrative tribunals are not bound by rules of evidence and procedure and they can take a practical view of the matter to decide complex problems. Thus they can arrive at a quick solution of a complex problem.
Combination of of Both Judicial and Administrative Functions:
Administrative authorities combine functions which are traditionally exercised by separate bodies (Legislative and Judiciary). Apart from their regular function of execution, they can perform quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial functions. Thus using this combination, they can arrive at a quick solution of a complex problem.
Policy Implementation:
Legislative set their agenda and form policy. Due to knowledge of ground realities, the administrative authorities are in better position to implement such policies, as is seen in workmen’s compensation, labour relations, etc.
Flexibility and Experimentation:
There is a lot of scope for flexibility and experimentation in the administrative process. Legislative cannot foresee all the contingencies while passing an enactment. Hence, the legislatives delegates the work of making rules and regulations to administrative authorities. Administrative authorities can make, change or experiments with the rules and regulations so that the object of enacting the Act is satisfied. Here unlike, in legislation, it is not necessary to continue a rule until commencement of the next session of the legislature. If a result of particular rule or method is unsatisfactory, the administrative authority can modify or even repel it without much formality in short period. Thus, legislation is rigid in character, while the administrative process is flexible.
Emergency:
In times of nation-wide emergency like war, earthquake, floods, or famine, quick action is required to ensure minimum to no damage to public and public property or health. In such situation administrative action is the only convenient and only possible remedy to tackle the emergency.