Date:29/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/29/stories/2007072960690800.htm

Tamil Nadu

“Indian higher judiciary a keen learner”

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Indian higher judiciary is a keen learner from the legislative advancements on the Wednesbury Principles that have come to denote the scope for judicial review of administrative acts, though most of the newer interpretations are difficult to implement in the conditions obtaining here, Chief Justice of India K. G. Balakrishnan said here on Saturday.

Delivering the ‘R. Venkataraman Labour Law Lecture’ on ‘Judicial Review of Administrative Acts -The Efficacy of Wednesbury`s Principles and Contemporary Development of Law’, Mr. Justice Balakrishnan said several judgments had expanded the grounds for judicial review of discretionary decisions made under the administrative acts and held great importance to judges here.

The grounds of judicial review had travelled a long way from the ‘unreasonableness’ of an administrative decision that in 1947 led to the laying down of Wednesbury Principles in the UK, to now include ‘illegality’, ‘irrationality’, ‘procedural impropriety’ and ‘proportionality’.

According to the Chief Justice, what made the application of new interpretations of the Wednesbury Principles difficult in India was the sheer number of court cases and their complex character.

According to Mr. Justice Balakrishnan, one of the key issues which exercised the judiciary was the extent to which an administrative action curtailed the right of citizens.

The legal benchmark followed by higher courts in upholding supremacy of civil rights is the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, he said.

The CJI later distributed certificates to the first batch of accredited mediators at the Madras High Court’s Mediation and Conciliation Centre.

Chief Justice of the Madras High Court A. P. Shah said the US doctrine of ‘Hard Look Review,’ that essentially advocated a harsher scrutiny of administrative decisions, was regarded by some courts as a blueprint for judicial review.

The programme was organised as part of a lecture series organised by the S. Viswanathan and B. R. Dolia Lecture Endowment Trust and supported by the Madras High Court Advocates’ Association (MHAA) and the Madras Bar Association. T. V. Ramanujun, president, Madras Bar Association, A.L. Somayaji and M. Ravindran, senior advocates and R.C. Paul Kanagaraj, MHAA president, also participated.