Question

Direction : The passage given below is followed by a set of question. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

Under our Constitution, the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary all have their own broad spheres of operation. Ordinarily it is not proper for any of these three organs of the State to encroach upon the domain of another, otherwise the delicate balance in the Constitution will be upset, and there will be a reaction. Judges must know their limits and must not try to run the Government. They must have modesty and humility, and not behave like Emperors. There is broad separation of powers under the Constitution and each organ of the State the legislature, the executive and the judiciary must have respect for the others and must not encroach into each other’s domains.

The theory of separation of powers first propounded by the French thinker Montesquieu (in his book ‘The Spirit of Laws' broadly holds the field in India too. In chapter XI of his book ‘The Spirit of Laws’ Montesquieu writes:

When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person, or in the same body of magistrates, there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. Again, there is no liberty, if the judicial power is not separated from the legislative and executive. Were it joined with the legislative, the life and liberty of the subject would be exposed to arbitrary control; for the judge would be then the legislator. Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression.

In India, the judiciary occupies an important place. The constitution visualizes an independent judiciary to safeguard the rights of citizens. In a democratic polity, the independent judiciary is a sine qua non to the effective functioning of the system. Administration has to function according to the law and the Constitution. The judiciary has an important role to play in protecting the citizen against the arbitrary exercise of power by administration. In the context of ever-expanding activities of government and discretionary powers vested in the various administrative agencies and public officials, the need to protect and safeguard the citizen's rights assumes significance and priority. In developing societies where the state is playing an important role in development, judiciary has a special responsibility to ensure social justice to the underprivileged sections of the community. However, it must be admitted that the courts cannot interfere in the administrative activities on their own accord even if such activities are arbitrary. They act only when their intervention is sought. Judicial intervention is restrictive in nature and limited in its scope.

Which among the following is the most critical inference that can be made from the above passage?

पर्याय

• The Indian judiciary has an important role to play which includes protecting the citizen against the arbitrary exercise of power by administration.

• The Indian judiciary is a safeguard against the possibility of authoritarian use of power by an undemocratic government.

• The Indian constitution has placed the correct safeguard in the form of an independent judiciary as the separation of powers is a concept central to a democracy

• The makers of the Indian constitution thought the administration incapable of functioning within the ambit of the law and the Constitution.

Answer 1

The Indian judiciary has an important role to play which includes protecting the citizen against the arbitrary exercise of power by administration.

Explanation:

The Indian judiciary has an important role to play which includes protecting the citizen against the arbitrary exercise of power by administration is the correct choice.

The Indian judiciary is a safeguard against the possibility of authoritarian use of power by an undemocratic government is incorrect as mentions an 'undemocratic' government which is different from what the passage speaks of.

The Indian constitution has placed the correct safeguard in the form of an independent judiciary as the separation of powers is a concept central to democracy is incorrect as 'separation of powers' is not mentioned in the passage.

The makers of the Indian constitution thought the administration incapable of functioning within the ambit of the law and the Constitution extends beyond the

The Indian judiciary has an important role to play which includes protecting the citizen against the arbitrary exercise of power by administration rightly suggests based on the first and third line of the passage that judiciary safeguards rights of the citizen from misuse of power by administration.