Control of Abuse of Administrative Discretion: Judicial Trends

Discretion has been defined as the freedom or authority to make judge- ments and to act as one sees fit.\u27 i.e. to say, free exercise of power as regards the ability to choose from different ways to achieve a particular goal or result. Administrative discretion would mean choosing from various available alterna- tives but with reference to rules of reasons and justice and not according to personal whims.?Invariably, in all systemsof jurisprudence, it is an accepted norm that the Courts will not interfere with the action persued by such authorities in exercise of their administrative discretion. It cannot be expected of the Courts to have the time and competence to judge each and every matter, let alone substitute it\u27s wisdom for that of the authority concerned. Again, this does not mean that the Courts will not interfere at all. They will not allow discretionary power to assume the garb of arbitrary power. The Courts have to ensure that discretion is exercised strictly within the conditionalities laid down by the law while exercising such discretion