“Administrative law is the law concerning the powers and procedures of administrative agencies, including especially the law governing judicial review of administrative action.” This definition was given by:

Question

“The question can also be considered from another point of view. Supposing the police send a report viz. a charge-sheet, under Section 170 of the Code. As we have already pointed out, the Magistrate is not bound to accept that report, when he considers the matter judicially. But can he differ from the police and call upon them to submit a final report, under Section 169? In our opinion, the Magistrate has no such power. If he has no such power, in law, it also follows that the Magistrate has no power to direct the police to submit a charge-sheet, when the police have submitted a final report that no case is made out for sending the accused for trial. The functions of the Magistracy and the police, are entirely different, and though, in the circumstances mentioned earlier, the Magistrate may or may not accept the report, and take suitable action, according to law, he cannot certainly infringe upon the jurisdiction of the police, by compelling them to change their opinion, so as to accord with his view. Therefore, to conclude, there is no power, expressly or impliedly conferred, under the Code, on a Magistrate to call upon the police to submit a charge-sheet, when they have sent a report under Section 169 of the Code, that there is no case made out for sending up an accused for trial.”
[Extracted from Abhinandan Jha v. Dinesh Mishra, (1967) 3 SCR 668, para 19-20].

Answer 1

Step 1: Read the definition carefully.
The definition speaks of the powers and procedures of administrative agencies and, very importantly, the law governing judicial review of administrative action. So the focus is on agencies and on courts checking them.

Step 2: Recall who said what.
Different scholars defined Administrative Law with different focus. We need the one who centred his definition on administrative agencies and judicial review.

Step 3: K.C. Davis.
Kenneth Culp Davis, a leading American jurist, gave exactly this definition. He stressed administrative agencies and the judicial review of their actions. The wording in the question matches his style closely.

Step 4: Why A.V. Dicey is not the answer.
Dicey is famous for the Rule of Law. He was actually suspicious of separate administrative law and focused on equality before ordinary courts, not on agencies and their review. So this is not his definition.

Step 5: Why Jennings and Wade do not fit.
Ivor Jennings defined it broadly as the law relating to administration, and H.W.R. Wade gave a control-and-process based definition. Neither phrased it in this specific agency-plus-judicial-review way.

Step 6: Final pick.
The agency-focused, judicial-review centred definition belongs to K.C. Davis.
\[ \boxed{\text{K.C. Davis}} \]

“Administrative law is the law concerning the powers and procedures of administrative agencies, including especially the law governing judicial review of administrative action.” This definition was given by:

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The Correct Option is D

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