Delegated Legislation:

• Delegated legislation is a legislation made by a body or person other than the sovereign in Parliament by

virtue of powers conferred by such sovereign under the statute.

• Salmond defines Delegated legislation as, “it is the body of law which proceeds from any authority other

than sovereign power and is, therefore, dependent for its continued existence and validity on some

superior authority”.

• The statute enacted by the legislature conferring the legislative power upon the executive is known as the

‘Parent Act’ or ‘Primary law’. The rules, regulations, orders etc. made by the executive in pursuance of

the legislative powers conferred by the legislature are known as ‘Subordinate laws’ or ‘Subsidiary laws’.

Delegated Legislation:
 The Essential Commodities Act, 1955 enumerates certain commodities as “essential
Commodities” under the Act. But the list given under the statute is not exhaustive and the
Central Government is empowered to declare any other commodity as “Essential
Commodity” and to apply the provisions of the Act to it.
The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 empowers the central government to exempt any
establishment or class of establishments from the operation of the Act, having regard to the
financial position and other relevant consideration.
The Defence of India Act, 1962 authorized the Central Government to make such rules as
appear it to be necessary or expedient for the defence of India and maintenance of public
order and safety.
1. Pressure upon parliamentary time: Expanding horizons of State activity, the bulk of
legislation is so great that it is not possible for the legislation to devote sufficient time
to discuss all the matters in detail.
2. Technicality of the subject-matter of the legislation
3. Flexibility: unforeseen contingencies that demand exigent action, legislative process is
 a slow and cumbersome process
4. Experiment: space to experiment, permitting rapid utilization of experience and
implementation of necessary changes in application of the provisions in the light of
such experience.
5. Emergency: legislative process not equipped to provide for urgent solution to meet the
situation. E.g. In times of war and other national emergencies, the executive is vested
with special and extremely wide powers to deal with the situation.
6. Complexity of modern administration: expansion of the functions of the State to the
economic and social sphere, resorting to traditional legislative process, the entire
object may be frustrated by vested interests and the goal of control and regulation over
private trade and business may not be achieved at all.
Delegated Legislation in England:
• In England, the Parliament is sovereign. In principle, it is only Parliament which
can enact laws.
• Administrative law had not been accepted as a developed and recognized branch
 of law.
• It was during the two World wars, that there was a tremendous increase in
delegated legislation. In the 20th century, Parliament was obliged to delegate
extensive law-making power in favor of the government.
• The Committee on Ministers’ Powers (Donoughmore Committee) in its report in
1932 stated “the system of delegated legislation is both legitimate by permissible
and constitutionally desirable for certain purposes, within certain limits, and under
certain safeguards”.
Delegated Legislation in US:
Under the US constitution, delegated legislation is not accepted in theory because of
two doctrines:
1. Separation of Powers: Art. I of the US constitution confers legislative power to
the Congress, Art. II states the executive power vested in the President, and
under Art. III the judiciary has the power to interpret the Constitution and
declare any statute unconstitutional if it does not conform to the provisions of
 the Constitution.
2. Delegatus non potest delegare (a delegate cannot further delegate): As the
Congress gets power from the people and is a delegate of the people in that
sense, it cannot further delegate its legislative power to the executive or any
other agency. Hence, it is a cardinal principle of representative government that
the legislature cannot delegate the power to make laws to any other body or
authority.
In practice, the Supreme Court tried to create a balance between the two conflicting
forces. However, the powers thus delegated are not legislative powers. They are
instead administrative or quasi-legislative powers.
Position in India:
Pre Independence: In Queen v. Burah (1878), the Privy Council laid down that “seeking
of assistance of a subordinate agency in the framing of rules and regulations which are to
become a part of the law and conferring on another body the essential legislative functions
which under the constitution should be exercised by the legislature itself”.
Post – Independence: The Delhi Laws Act, 1912, giving power to the Government to
extend to Delhi and Ajmer-Marwar with such restrictions and modifications as it thought
fit any law in force in any other part of India, was held intra vires. It permitted delegation
of legislative power by the legislature to the executive and also demarcated the extent of
such permissible delegation of power by the legislature.
The case created a balance and recognized the need for delegated legislation to cope with
the problems and, also the emphasis that the legislature derives their powers from the
written Constitution which creates and the need to have some limits to set on their capacity
to delegate.
St. John Teachers Training Institute v. National Council for Teacher Education (2003) Rules
framed by the executive in exercise of delegated power, however, cannot supplant the law enacted by
the legislature but can supplement it.

M.P High Court Bar Assn. v. UOI (2004)

• A legislature can neither create a parallel legislature nor destroy its legislative character. •
However, it is always open to the legislature to delegate to the executive, ancillary and subordinate
powers necessary for carrying out the policy and purposes of the Act as may be necessary to make
the legislation complete, effective and useful.
• The legislature must retain in its own hands the essential legislative functions which consist in
declaring the legislative policy and laying down the standard which is to be enacted into a rule of
law, and what can be delegated in the task of subordinate legislation which by its very nature is
ancillary to the statute which delegates the power to make it.
• Provided the legislative policy is enunciated with sufficient clearness or a standard laid down the
courts cannot and should not interfere with the discretion that undoubtedly rests with the
legislature itself in determining the extent of delegation necessary in a particular case. These are
the limits within which delegated legislation is constitutional provided of course the legislature is
competent to deal with and legislate on the particular subject-matter.