NAME: SAMMY MUNENE WERU

ADM NO: LLB/4521/22

Issue: Explain the nature and purposes of administrative procedures.

INTRODUCTION
It is of key importance to note that in all social relations, human beings be treated in a way that is
just and fair. Justice should therefore be served in the competition for scarce resources. From the
latter, the law comes in handy and establishes principles and procedures that facilitate the equal
treatment of people ensuring that all the scarce resources are shared fairly and legitimately.

In an instance where the law leads to fair and legitimate results, then it is right to say that justice
has been delivered.The Administrative procedures are instruments of justice and they facilitate
treatment of people in a way that accords to standards which govern the life of the society.

Administrative procedures are divided into three key categories; bureaucratic processes,
adjudication processes and policy and rule making. In this document I will be opining and
unbundling the nature and purposes of the above principles.

Procedures are the steps taken in achieving a certain decision.1 They are crucial since they play
different roles in ensuring that the ends and the goals of the law are achieved. Procedures
therefore protects rights and the interests as well as promote the virtue of good administration.

In achieving fairness there are two procedural rights which are considered and they include the
right to an impartial tribunal and the right to be heard. These rights ensures that the interests of
the people affected by the administrative act are entitled to a prior notice as well as the right to
be heard.

All these procedures ensure that there should be fair treatment of individuals without any kind of
discrimination.

Adjudication:
Individuals should be treated in a fair way in administrative processes. 2 atural justice doctrine
was applicable in judicial proceedings. It is this doctrine that enabled the procedural rights which
were the right to be heard and the right to an impartial tribunal.

Natural justice was only available in judicial proceedings meaning that it was not available in
administrative processes. Natural justice did not also apply to legislative proceedings on the
ground that those proceedings involved the creation and promulgation of rules without reference
to specific cases. The courts had the view that the discharge of executive duties did not in any
way attract natural justice. The government action aimed at depriving an individual of a right to
1
The English Learner’s Dictionary.
be preceded by a notice and a hearing, it differed in cases with respect to action that sought to
deprive an individual of a mere privilege.

Individuals had no rights whatsoever in regards to privileges meaning that they could be
withdrawn and no complaints made. In the case of Nakudda Ali v Jayaratne2 where a textile
license in Sri Lanka had been cancelled without notice or hearing simply because the Controller
of Textiles believed that the holder of the license was not fit to retain the license. The Privy
Council approved the procedure followed on the grounds that holding a license was only a
privilege and that the doctrine of natural justice did not apply to the privileges.
The English courts took the approach that natural justice only applied to those bodies that had the
legal authority to determine questions that affected the rights of subjects while having the duty to
act judicially.

However, this approach started changing after the court decision in the case of Ridge v Baldwin3.
The facts of this case were that a police authority had resolved to dismiss Mr. Ridge who acted
as the Chief Constable of the County Borough of Brighton. He claimed that the resolution was a
void one and of no effect since he was not granted a notice of the grounds on which the
Committee proposed to act and had no opportunity to be heard in his defense.

The Committee while dismissing Mr. Ridge had exercised the power of dismissal articulated in
the Municipal Corporations Act. The Act provided that the Watch Committee may at any time
suspend and may also dismiss any person whom have proven negligence while discharging his
duties or is considered as unfit.4 Mr. Ridge argued that the Watch Committee was bound to
observe the principles of natural justice by informing him of the grounds on which they proposed
to act and giving him an opportunity of being heard in his own defense. The court agreed with
him and held that since he could only be dismissed for cause prescribed by statute, he had the
right to a prior notice of the charge against him. This approach thus changed after the Ridge
case.
The judge relied on the approach followed in the case of Cooper v Wandsworth Board of Works5
where the issue was whether a man could be deprived of his property without necessarily having
been given an opportunity of being heard. The court held that this could not be the case since
every person has the right of being heard.
The right to be heard should be confined to the conduct of legal tribunals and applied to every
person who’s is invested with authority to adjudicate on issues involving the civil consequences
to individuals. 6This implies that there is need to observe the principles of natural justice.

Since the case of Ridge v Baldwin7 the common law jurisdictions started applying the principles
of natural justice to administrative processes that affect the rights and interests of the people.

2
Nakkuda Ali v Jayaratne [1951] AC 66.
3
Ridge v Baldwin [1964] AC 40.
4
Municipal Corporations Act, section 191(4), 1892.
5
Cooper v Wandsworth Board of Works [1863] 14.
6
Wood v Wood [LR 9 Ex 190].
7
[1964] AC 40. 9
Re HK [1967].
This therefore later on led to the application of the principle of procedural fairness since the
doctrine of natural justice did not necessarily suit some of the administrative processes.
Authority is expected to act fairly in assessing each administrative process. 9 The courts have the
obligation of deciding what amounts to fair treatment. In the case of Lloyd v McMahon8 some
factors were established in assessing the fairness of the procedures. The factors include the
nature of the function being performed by the official; nature and consequences of the decision
as well as the legal standards governing the actions of the official.

Policy and Rule Making:

This therefore means that the policy-making authority have the responsibility of permitting those
with an interest in a particular matter to give their views while taking those views into account
before reaching any decision. By doing so, and by participating and giving the other side the
right to be heard, the citizens therefore develop the sense of the common good .
Administrative procedures also require the authority making the policies to outline the reasons
for the choices made.

There are three principles which should be thoroughly examined in ensuring fair treatment in
policy making. The principles include; participation, openness and the principle of consideration.
The Parliament has the under the constitution has the duty of providing for rule-making
procedures.

The administrative bodies therefore are under the obligation of making subsidiary legislation as
well as other formal rules as the delegates of Parliament. The courts are not tasked with
designing the rule-making procedures due to the complexities of public administration
necessities.

In United Kingdom, the approach in which the courts will only review subordinate legislation on
the grounds that it does not fall under the scope of statutory authority. 9In instances where the
procedures set for rule-making have been provided for in the statute, the courts then will
determine whether the authority has abide with the procedures whereas in instances where there
are no statutory provisions made for rule-making procedures, the courts tend to rely on common
law.

Every citizen in Kenya has the right to administrative action that is “expeditious, efficient,
lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. “10

CONCLUSION
8
Lloyd v McMahon [1987] AC 628.
9
McEldowney v Forde [1971] AC 632.
10
The Constitution of Kenya, Article 47,2010.
The above discussion illustrates the purposes of the administrative procedures and also their
nature in ensuring that justice is achieved. This is by making sure justice is administered in a
right, fair and appropriate way in all social relations. The procedures have also ensured that all of
human beings claims are treated in the same manner as those of others who have similar claims.