UPHESC Assistant Professor Law 2025 PYQs

Concept: Granville Austin (The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation, 1966) wrote that the Indian Constitution is “first and foremost a social document”.

1. Most provisions aim at social revolution – Parts III and IV are its ‘conscience’.
2. Ivor Jennings called it too long and rigid (“lawyers’ paradise”).
3. K. C. Wheare called India “quasi-federal”; John Locke is a 17th-century philosopher, not a commentator on it.

Short trick: Austin = Social document + Cornerstone; Wheare = Quasi-federal.

Concept: Article 224 lets the President appoint additional judges (temporary increase in work/arrears) for a period not exceeding two years.

1. Art. 224(1): additional judges – up to 2 years.
2. Art. 224(2): acting judge – till the permanent judge resumes duty; no one may hold office beyond 62 years (Art. 224(3)).
3. So the period asked in the question is ‘not exceeding two years’.

Short trick: 224 → ‘2’ years for additional judges.

Concept: Prospective overruling was first applied in I. C. Golak Nath v. State of Punjab (1967), not in Maneka Gandhi (1978).

1. Re Berubari (1960): Preamble not a part of the Constitution – correct.
2. Indira Gandhi v. Raj Narain (1975): Art. 329A(4) (39th Amendment) struck down on basic structure – judicial review of amendment – correct.
3. Selvi v. State of Karnataka (2010): involuntary narco-analysis, polygraph, BEAP violate Arts. 20(3), 21 – correct.
4. Maneka Gandhi is about ‘procedure established by law’ being fair, just and reasonable.

Short trick: Prospective overruling = Golak Nath (borrowed from American law).

Concept: After the 44th Amendment (1978), Art. 359 cannot suspend enforcement of Articles 20 and 21 during an emergency.

1. ADM Jabalpur (1976) had allowed suspension of Art. 21 – the 44th Amendment reversed this.
2. Art. 20 (protection in respect of conviction) and Art. 21 (life and personal liberty) remain enforceable.
3. Hence both I and II.

Short trick: 20–21 never sleep, even in emergency.

Concept: The original Constitution (1950) had 8 Schedules; today it has 12.

1. 9th Schedule – 1st Amendment, 1951.
2. 10th Schedule (anti-defection) – 52nd Amendment, 1985.
3. 11th (Panchayats) and 12th (Municipalities) – 73rd/74th Amendments, 1992.

Short trick: Original 8 → 1st Amdt adds 9 → 52nd adds 10 → 73/74 add 11/12.

Concept: The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Art. 21A (free and compulsory education, 6–14 years).

1. It also substituted Art. 45 (early childhood care below 6) and added Art. 51A(k) (parent’s duty).
2. RTE Act, 2009 gives effect to Art. 21A from 1 April 2010.
3. Background: Unni Krishnan (1993) recognised education as part of Art. 21.

Short trick: 86th → 21A + 45 + 51A(k): three changes, one amendment.

Concept: In Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India (2015) Justice Kurian Joseph, while striking down NJAC, admitted that the collegium system “needs improvement requiring a glasnost and a perestroika” (openness and restructuring).

1. Bench 4:1 – Khehar, Lokur, Goel, Kurian Joseph struck down the 99th Amendment and NJAC Act.
2. Justice Chelameshwar was the lone dissent (upheld NJAC).
3. Khehar wrote the lead opinion; the ‘glasnost–perestroika’ phrase is Kurian Joseph’s.

Short trick: Kurian Joseph – Russian words (Gorbachev reforms) for the collegium.

Concept: Article 137: subject to law and rules under Art. 145, the Supreme Court may review any judgment or order made by it.

1. Art. 134 – criminal appeals; Art. 136 – special leave to appeal; Art. 135 – Federal Court jurisdiction.
2. Beyond review lies the curative petition (Rupa Ashok Hurra, 2002).

Short trick: 13‘7’ = ‘re-view’ – second look.

Concept: Lokpal/Lokayukta is the Indian form of the Ombudsman – its core power is to investigate complaints of citizens about maladministration and corruption.

1. Proposed by the First ARC (1966) for redress of citizens’ grievances against administration.
2. It does not run the administration (B) and its basic role is not merely advisory (C).
3. Disciplinary action is taken by the competent authority on its report; the Lokpal’s own power is investigation/inquiry into complaints.

Short trick: Ombudsman = complaint-investigator of maladministration.

Concept: A. V. Dicey, in Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution (1885), systematically propounded the Rule of Law.

1. Three pillars: supremacy of law (no arbitrary power), equality before law, and constitution as the result of ordinary law (judge-made rights).
2. Ivor Jennings later criticised Dicey’s view.
3. Sir Edward Coke is associated with its early origin, but the doctrine is credited to Dicey.

Short trick: Dicey = 3 pillars: Supremacy, Equality, Judge-made constitution.

Concept: A. K. Kraipak v. Union of India (1969): the line between quasi-judicial and administrative functions is thin; rules of natural justice apply to administrative proceedings too.

1. Facts: Naqishbund, a candidate, sat on the selection board for the Indian Forest Service – bias (nemo judex in causa sua).
2. Post-decisional hearing (D) is associated with Maneka Gandhi (1978) / Swadeshi Cotton Mills (1981).
3. Judicial review as basic structure (B) – Minerva Mills / L. Chandra Kumar.

Short trick: Kraipak = Natural justice enters the administrative field.

Concept: The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 received Presidential assent on 1 January 2014 and came into force on 16 January 2014.

1. Passed by Rajya Sabha 17 Dec 2013 and Lok Sabha 18 Dec 2013.
2. Assent: 1 Jan 2014; commencement notified: 16 Jan 2014.
3. First Lokpal (Justice P. C. Ghose) appointed in March 2019.

Short trick: Passed Dec ’13 → Assent 1 Jan → Force 16 Jan 2014.

Concept: H. W. R. Wade defined administrative law as “the law relating to the control of governmental power”.

1. K. C. Davis: law concerning the powers and procedures of administrative agencies, including judicial review.
2. Ivor Jennings: law relating to the administration – organisation, powers and duties of administrative authorities.

Short trick: Wade = ‘control of governmental power’ (W for ‘Watchdog’).

Concept: Mandamus (‘we command’) directs a public authority/official to perform a public duty; it does not lie against a private person.

1. Habeas corpus lies against both State and private persons – A wrong.
2. Quo warranto questions a person’s title to a public office, not courts – B wrong.
3. Prohibition is issued to inferior courts/tribunals, never to private persons – D wrong.

Short trick: Mandamus = public duty; Prohibition/Certiorari = courts; Quo warranto = public office; Habeas corpus = anyone.

Concept: John Austin (Province of Jurisprudence Determined, 1832) is conventionally called the father of English jurisprudence (and of the analytical/imperative school).

1. He first separated law ‘as it is’ from law ‘as it ought to be’ and gave the command theory.
2. Bentham is called the father of legal positivism/utilitarian legal reform; Salmond is a later analytical jurist; Roscoe Pound – sociological jurisprudence (social engineering).

Short trick: Austin = Father of English (Analytical) Jurisprudence; Pound = Social engineering.

Concept: F. C. von Savigny (historical school) held that law grows like language – a slow, organic process out of the Volksgeist (spirit of the people).

1. “Law is found, not made” – it grows with the people and dies when the nation loses its individuality.
2. Kant – philosophical school; Holland – analytical (‘formal science of positive law’).

Short trick: Savigny: Law grows like language – organic, gradual, Volksgeist.

Concept: Law and the Modern Mind (1930) is by Jerome Frank, a leader of American legal realism (‘fact-sceptic’).

1. He called the belief in certainty of law a ‘basic legal myth’ (father-complex).
2. Holmes – The Common Law / ‘The Path of the Law’; Blackstone – Commentaries; Holland – Elements of Jurisprudence.

Short trick: Frank = Fact-sceptic, ‘Modern Mind’.

Concept: C. K. Allen: jurisprudence is “the scientific synthesis of the essential principles of law”.

1. Keeton: study and systematic arrangement of the general principles of law.
2. Gray: the science of law – statement and systematic arrangement of the rules followed by courts.
3. Salmond: science of the first principles of civil law.

Short trick: Allen = ‘synthesis’ (A–S).

Concept: T. E. Holland defined ownership as “plenary control over an object”.

1. Salmond: ownership is the relation between a person and a right vested in him (ownership of rights).
2. Austin: right indefinite in point of user, unrestricted in disposition and unlimited in duration.
3. Renner – Marxist view of ownership as social function.

Short trick: Holland = Plenary control (H–P: ‘Holds Plenary’).

Concept: The term ‘sociology’ (science of society) was coined by Auguste Comte; Puchta was Savigny’s disciple in the historical school.

1. Ehrlich – ‘living law’ (law of society is ahead of legislation) – correct.
2. Duguit – ‘social solidarity’ – correct.
3. Savigny – law originates in the general consciousness (Volksgeist) of the people – correct.

Short trick: Comte = Sociology; Puchta = Savigny’s pupil (historical).