🧷 Authentic Classroom Explanation by IAS Monk

📍 The Question:

A legislation which confers on the executive or administrative authority an unguided and uncontrolled discretionary power in the matter of application of law violates which one of the following Articles of the Constitution of India?

(a) Article 14
(b) Article 28
(c) Article 32
(d) Article 44

✅ Correct Answer: (a)

---

🔎 Curiosity Raiser (UPSC philosophy check)

UPSC is testing whether you can connect abstract constitutional philosophy with a specific Fundamental Right.
The phrase “unguided and uncontrolled discretion” is the key.

---

🧠 Core Concept Tested

Article 14 — Equality before law, Rule of Law, and limits on executive discretion

---

🔍 Classroom Explanation (UPSC Prelims Focused)

• Article 14 guarantees:
  • Equality before law and
  • Equal protection of laws.
• It embodies the Rule of Law, a core principle of constitutional governance.

Why unguided discretion violates Article 14:

• Rule of Law requires:
  • absence of arbitrary power,
  • supremacy of law over discretion.
• A law that gives the executive uncontrolled and unguided discretion:
  • enables arbitrariness,
  • permits unequal application of law,
  • destroys equality before law.

👉 Hence, such legislation violates Article 14.

---

❌ Why other options are incorrect

• Article 28 → Freedom from religious instruction
• Article 32 → Right to constitutional remedies
• Article 44 → Uniform Civil Code (Directive Principle)
• None of these deal with arbitrariness or discretion.

---

📘 Enrich Notes (Prelims Value Add)

• Article 14 includes:
  • Rule of Law
  • Non-arbitrariness (E.P. Royappa case)
• Dicey’s Rule of Law:
  • No arbitrary power
  • Equality before law
  • Supremacy of ordinary law

📌 Prelims Recall Line
Where discretion is absolute, equality collapses — Article 14 intervenes.

---

🧘‍♂️ IAS Monk Whisper

Law must guide power;
when power guides law, equality vanishes.