Introduction to Public

Administration

Nature, scope and importance of public administration

 DEFINITIONS
E.N. Gladden
“Administration is a long and slightly pompous word, but it has a humble
meaning, for it means to care for or look after people, to manage affairs…. is
determined action taken in pursuit of conscious purpose”.
• “Administration”, “is a long and slightly pompous word, but it has humble
meaning”. The word administer, derived from the Latin word ad + ministrate,
means to care for or to look after people, to manage affairs.

• Administration is a process permeating all collective effort, be it public or

private, civil or military, large scale or otherwise, and it is thus universal
nature
• Woodrow Wilson
Public administration is the detailed and systematic application of law. Every
particular application of law is an act of administration.
L.D. White
• “Public administration consists of all those operations having for their
purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy”.
• As per White, this definition covers a multitude of particular operations in
many fields the delivery of a letter, the sale of public land, the negotiation of
a treaty, the award of compensation to an injured workman, the quarantine
of a sick child, the removal of litter from a park, manufacturing uranium 235,
and licensing the use of atomic energy.
• It includes military as well as civil affairs, much of the work of courts, and all
the special fields of government activity-police, education, health,
construction of public works, conservation, social security, and many others.
• The conduct of public affairs in advanced civilisations requires the
employment of almost every profession and skill-engineering, law, medicine,
and teaching; the crafts, the technical specialties, the office skills, and many
others.
• Herbert Simon, D.W. Smithburg and V.A. Thompson
• “In its broadest sense, the administration can be defined as the activities of
group cooperating to accomplish common goals.” A brief analysis of the
definitions listed above reveals that administration comprises two essentials,
namely (1) cooperative effort, and (2) pursuit of common objectives.
• One does not find any administration if there is only a common purpose
without a collective effort or vice-versa. Administration is also called a
„technology of social relationships‟. Thus, administration is a process
common to all group effort, public or private, civil or military, large scale or
small scale. It is process at work in a department store, a bank, a university, a
high school, a railroad, a hospital, a hotel or a local government.
ADMINISTRATION, ORGANISATION AND
MANAGEMENT
• These terms are often used interchangeably and synonymously
• According to William Schulze Administration is the force, which lays down
the object for which an organisation and its management are to strive and
the broad policies under which they are to operate.
• An Organisation is a combination of the necessary human beings, materials,
tools, equipment and working space, appurtenances brought together in
systematic and effective co- relation to accomplish some desired object
• Management is that which leads guides and directs an organisation for the
accomplishment of pre-determined object.
• To put in simple terms, administration sets the goal, management strives to
attain it and organisation is the machine of the management for the
attainment of the ends determined by the administration.
• The other view is that administration is associated with performing routine
things in known settings in accordance with certain procedures, rules, and
regulations. The Management is associated with performing functions like
risk taking, dynamic, creative and innovative functions.
 NATURE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• There are two views regarding the Nature of Public Administration, that is,
Integral and Managerial.
• According to the integral view, „administration‟ is the sum total of all the
activities – manual, clerical, managerial, etc., which are undertaken to realise
the objectives of the organisation.
• In this view all the acts of officials of the government from the Attendant to
the Secretaries to the government and Head of the State constitute Public
Administration. Henri Fayol and L.D. White are the supporters of this view.
• According to the managerial view of administration, the managerial
activities of people who are involved in planning, organising, commanding,
coordinating and controlling constitute Public Administration. This view
regards administration as getting things done and not doing things.
• The managerial view excludes Public Administration from non-managerial
activities such as manual, clerical and technical activities.
• The two views differs from each other in many ways. The integral view
includes the activities of all the persons engaged in administration whereas
the managerial view restricts itself only to the activities of the few persons at
the top.
• The integral view depicts all types of activities from manual to managerial,
from non-technical to technical whereas the managerial view takes into
account only the managerial activities in an organisation.
• Furthermore, administration, according to the integral view would differ from
one sphere to another depending upon the subject matter, but whereas that
will not be the case according to the managerial point of view because the
managerial view is identified with the managerial techniques common to all
the fields of administration.
• The difference between the two views relates to the difference between
management and operation or we may say between getting things done and
doing things. The correct meaning of the term administration would however,
depend upon the context in which it is used.
• Dimock,
• Dimock and Koening sum up in the following words:
• “As a study public administration examines every aspect of government‟s
efforts to discharge the laws and to give effect to public policy; as a process, it
is all the steps taken between the time an enforcement agency assumes
jurisdiction and the last break is placed (but includes also that agency‟s
participation, if any, in the formulation of the programme in the first place);
and as a vocation, it is organising and directing the activities of others in a
public agency.”
 SCOPE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• By the scope of Public Administration, we mean the major concerns of Public
Administration as an activity and as a discipline.
• Scope of Public Administration as an activity
• Broadly speaking, Public Administration embraces all the activities of the
government.
• Hence as an activity the scope of public administration is no less than the
scope of state activity. In the modern welfare state people expect many things
– a wide variety of services and protection from the government
• In this context public administration provides a number of welfare and social
security services to the people. Besides, it has to manage government owned
industries and regulate private industries. Public administration covers every
area and activity within the ambit public policy.
• Thus, the scope of public administration is very wide in modern state.
• Scope of Public Administration as a Discipline
• The scope of public administration as a discipline, that is subject of studies,
comprises of the following:
• The POSDCoRB view
• Several writers have defined the scope of public administration in varying
terms. Gullick sums up the scope of the subject by the letters of the word
POSDCoRB which denote:
• Planning, Organisation, Staffing, Directing, Co-ordinating reporting the
Budgeting.
• Planning means the working out in broad outline the things to be done, the
methods to be adopted to accomplish the purpose.

• Organisation means the establishment of the formal structure of authority

through which the work is sub-divided, arranged, defined and coordinated.
• Staffing means the recruitment and training of the personnel and their
conditions of work.

• Directing means making decisions and issuing orders and instructions.

• Coordinating means inter-relating the work of various divisions, sections and

other parts of the organisation.
• Reporting means informing the superiors within the agency to whom the
executive is responsible about what is going on.
• Budgeting means fiscal planning, control and accounting.
• According to Gullick the POSDCoRB activities are common to all organisations.
They are the common problems of management which are found in different
agencies regardless of the nature of the work they do.
• he POSDCoRB view over looks the fact that deferent agencies are faced with
different administrative problems, which are peculiar to the nature of the
services, they render and the functions they performed. The POSDCoRB view
takes into consideration only the common techniques of the administration
and ignores the study of the „subject matter‟ with which the agency is
concerned.
• A major defect is that the POSDCoRB view does not contain any reference to
the formulation and implementation of the policy. Therefore, the scope of
administration is defined very narrowly, being too inward looking and too
conscious of the top management.
• The Subject Matter View
• public administration deals not only with the processes but also with the
substantive matters of administration, such as Defence, Law and Order,
Education, Public Health, Agriculture, Public Works, Social Security, Justice,
Welfare, etc. These services require not only POSDCoRB techniques but also
have important specialised techniques of their own which are not covered by
POSDCoRB techniques
• For example, if you take Police Administration it has its own techniques in
crime detection, maintenance of Law and Order, etc., which are much and
more vital to efficient police work, than the formal principles of organisation,
personnel management, coordination or finance and it is the same with other
services too. Therefore, the study of public administration should deal with
both the processes (that is POSDCoRB techniques and the substantive
concerns).
• We conclude the scope of public administration with the statement of Lewis
Meriam: “Public administration is an instrument with two blades like a pair of
scissors. One blade may be knowledge of the field covered by POSDCoRB, the
other blade is knowledge of the subject matter in which these techniques are
applied.
• Both blades must be good to make an effective tool”.
• We may conclude the discussion with the observation of Herbert Simon who
says that Public administration has two important aspects, namely deciding
and doing things. The first provides the basis for the second. One cannot
conceive of any discipline without thinking or deciding. Thus Public
administration is a broad-ranging and an amorphous combination of theory
and practice.
 PRINCIPLES OF ADMINISTRATION
• There are about eleven principles that are found in section 194 of the
Constitution. They are listed as part of the “basic values and principles
governing public administration”.
• They govern the exercise of administrative behaviour in all tiers of
Government, including institutions and agencies of the State, and Government-
controlled entities and other public enterprises.
• They govern the exercise of administrative behaviour in all tiers of
Government, including institutions and agencies of the State, and
Government-controlled entities and other public enterprises.
what is the relationship between politics and public administration?

• Politics largely answers the “what and when” of governance whereas

public administration answers the “how and why” of governance.
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES

• People use the following constitutional principles to demand vertical

accountability from public administrators.
• Vertical accountability is used to simply describe the relationship between
public officials as part of policy givers and implementers and the citizens as
part of policy takers, influencers and consumers.
 Maintenance and promotion of a high standard of professional ethics

Public administrators need to have a code of conduct to regulate their

behaviour.
• Some arms of the State have codes of conduct for their members.
• Judges in Zimbabwe lead the pack in this regard.
• Because the Judiciary is a State institution under the separation of powers or
functions doctrines, other State institutions and agencies can take a leaf from
this thin but detailed code of judicial ethics.
 Promotion of efficient and economic use of resources

• The role of human and other resources in public administration cannot be

underestimated.
• Most importantly, human resource controls the efficient and economic use of
other resources (physical capital such as transport, power, communications;
economic capital and so on).
 Development-oriented

• With the global emergence of economic infrastructural development in all

spheres of governance, public regulators and development analysts must
emphasise on the role of development policy in economic growth, where
development policy refers to the measures, which promote efficiency in
public sector management and ancillary fields of the Government.
• The Government of Zimbabwe for instance declared 2018 as the Year of the
People. Important issues being access to their income and involving
marginalized societies in the development agenda.
 Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably

• Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably, and without bias.

• This “non-bias” norm is pitched from a natural law and normative
perspective. For administrators, perhaps the most significant challenge facing
them is institutionalised bureaucracy.
• Providing services in time is difficult where there is no decentralisation or
where subordinates are not empowered to make important decisions on
certain issues.
• One way to go is for government functionaries to delineate responsibilities of
certain departments and advise the public of the new developments.
 Responsiveness to people’s needs

• Attached to this is the element of “reasonable time” and “public participation

in policy making”.
• Public participation is obligatory, there is need for the public to be involved
in benchmarking the concept of reasonableness.
• The Government and the people are called upon to be both the referee and
player in this regard.
• Responsiveness is a founding principle of good governance that is listed in
section 3 of the Constitution. It is also a consideration that is used by courts
of law to interpret the Bill of Rights in terms of section 46 of the
Constitution.
Accountability to the people and Parliament

• Accountability to the people and Parliament is obligatory.

• Whereas administrators have their own internal controls, the
Constitution makes the people and Parliament part of the external
controls on administrative activity.
• Given that maladministration forms such as corruption appear to be so
endemic to our public life, the people and Parliament are made the
watchdogs on public administration.
• From the perspective of direct democracy, the State functionaries must
be accountable to the people because State institutions derive their
authority from the people who vest their authority in different
functionaries.
• Using indirect or representative democracy, the ultimate authority of the
people is reflected in the composition of Parliament where people vote for
their mouthpieces on various administrative activities.
• Constitutionally, accountability is a founding principle of good governance.
• Additionally, section 119 of the Constitution clearly obligates Parliament to
protect the Constitution and promote democratic governance in Zimbabwe.
• It is also obliged to make sure that the State and all institutions and agencies
of government at every level act constitutionally and in the national interest.
• Members of Parliament must ensure that concerns from their
constituencies are debated candidly and measures are taken to address
them.
• Institutional accountability demands that State institutions must work
together with oversight institutions in a civil economy.
• Richard Rose stated in 1992 that democracy presupposes a civil society,
recognition by the State that individuals, informal groups, and formal
institutions should be free to pursue their interests and ideals independent of
the State in most spheres of life.
• A civil economy allows the State to move away from central planning to the
market.
 State institutions and agencies work together

• State institutions and agencies are obliged to cooperate with each other.
• Conflict and competition between departments and agencies is common.
• Competition arises from the demands of agencies for adequate resources and
powers to pursue their goals successfully, or to enlarge their zones of
jurisdiction. They also compete for clients and for political sources of support.
 Provision of timely, accessible and accurate information

• Transparency must be fostered through the provision of timely, accessible

and accurate information.
• Transparency is again a founding value of good governance that is listed in
section 3 of the Constitution.
• It, therefore, follows that it is also used to interpret the Bill of Rights under
Chapter 4 of the Constitution. For instance, section 62 (1) of the Constitution
protects the right of access to information which is required in the interests
of public accountability.
• The State is obliged to uphold the four duties on fundamental rights that are
listed in section 44 of the Constitution. They include to: respect, protect,
promote and fulfil the rights and freedoms set out in Chapter 4.
 Good human resource management and career-development practices

• It is obligatory to have good human resource management and career-

development practices aimed at maximising human potential.
• Models of talent identification and management, traditionally developed
from the private sector, must be identified and tailor-made to suit the public
sector.
• The Constitution has laid a value framework to define recruitment and on the
job training. Essentially, staff recruitment and retention schemes must not
cultivate a sustainable culture of career development. Quality of staff in
public administration should be one which focuses on institutional
accountability.
 Broad representation of the diverse
communities in Zimbabwe
• There is need for broad representation of the diverse communities in
Zimbabwe.
• This moves a long way towards curbing various forms of maladministration
such as nepotism.
• This fits into the larger picture on New Public Management (NPM)
approaches which include a broad-based system of employment, training,
and advancement of careers.
• Steeped in this are considerations such as merit, ability, objectivity,
fairness, and equality of men and women and inclusion of persons with
disabilities which are constitutionally required in terms of section 194 (1)
(k).
 (a). Integral View

• According to this view, public administration is sum total of all the activities
undertaken in pursuit of and in fulfilment of public policy.
• These activities include not only managerial and technical but also manual
and clerical.
• Public Administration “consists of all those operations having for their
purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy.
• This definition covers a multitude of particular operations in many fields–the
delivery of a letter, the award of compensation to an injured workman and
the removal of a litter from a park. Similarly, administration is concerned with
the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the government.
• The ‘what’ is the subject matter, the technical knowledge of a field which
enables the administration to perform his tasks. The ‘how’ is the technique
of management, the principles according to which cooperative programmes
are carried to success.
 (b). Managerial View

• According to this view, the work of only those persons who are engaged in the
performance of managerial functions in an organisation constitute
administration.
• It is these persons who shoulder the responsibility of keeping the enterprise
and to run it most efficiently. Their job is to plan, programme and organize all
the activities in an organization so as to achieve the desired ends.
• Administration has to do with getting things done; with accomplishment of
defined objectives’. The term administration is also used in narrower sense to
refer to those patterns of behaviours that are common to many kinds of co-
operating groups or the specific technological methods used to reach these
goals.
• The above two views differ from each other in many ways. The integral view
includes the activities of all persons engaged in administration whereas the
managerial view restricts itself only to the activities of a few persons at the
top. The integral view postulates all types of activities from manual to
managerial, from non- technical to technical whereas managerial view takes
into account only the managerial activities in an organisation.
• These techniques are defined by the letters of the word: POSDCORB which
means Planning, Organisation, Staffing, Direction, Co-ordinating, Reporting
and Budgeting.
• As such public administration examines every aspects of government’s
effort to discharge the laws and give effect to public policy; as a process it
is all the steps taken between the time an enforcement agency assumes
jurisdiction and the last break is placed; and as a vocation, it is organising
and directing the activities of others in a public agency.
 Scope of public administration

• There is no unanimous opinion regarding the scope of public administration.

There are two different views explaining the subject matter of public
administration.
• They are POSDCORB view and the subject matter view.
• Broadly speaking, Public Administration embraces the entire area and all the
activity of the government.
• The term has come to signify primarily the organisation, personnel, practices
and procedures essential to the effective performance of the civilian
functions entrusted to the executive branch of government.
• Public Administration is in fact the executive in action. It does not include
the study of judicial or legislative administrations, although they too
share in the implementation of public policy. We study in it the actual
administration or the actual administrative machinery of the state.
 POSDCORB View

• The scope of the subject is summed up by the letters of the word

‘POSDCORB’ which means: Planning, Organisation, Staffing, Direction, Co-
ordinating, Reporting and Budgeting.
• Planning means the working out in broad outline the things to be done, the
method to be adopted to accomplish the purpose.
• Organisation means the establishment of the formal structure of authority
through which the work is sub-divided, arranged, defined and coordinated.
• Staffing means the recruitment and training of the personnel and their
condition of work.
• Directing means making decisions and issuing orders and instructions.
• Co-ordinating means inter- relating the work of various divisions, sections
and other parts of organisation.
• Reporting means informing the agency to whom the executive is
responsible about what is going on.
• Budgeting means fixed planning, control and accounting.
• The POSDCORB activities are common to all organisations. They are the
common problems of management, which are found in the different agencies
regardless of the peculiar nature of the work they do.
• There are several thinkers who are of the opinion that the POSDCORB view of
the scope of public administration overlooks the fact that different agencies
are faced with different administrative problems, which are peculiar to the
nature of the services, they render and the functions they perform.
• This view takes into consideration only the common techniques of
administration and ignores the study of the‘subject matter’ with which an
agency is concerned.
 The Subject Matter View

• The subject matter view is more or less similar to the integral view of the
nature of the public administration. According to this view public
administration studies the sum total of the entire activities of the
government; the executive, legislature and judiciary. Thus the scope of public
administration is very wide.
• However, the POSDCORB view and subject matter view are not mutually
exclusive, but complement each other. They together constitute the proper
scope of the study of public administration. “Public administration is an
instrument with two blades like a pair of scissors. One blade may be
knowledge of the fields covered by POSDCORB; the other blade is knowledge
of the subject matter in which these techniques are applied. Both blades must
be good to make
Public Administration as a discipline consists of
five branches:
• (I). Organisational theory and Behaviour;
• (II). Public Personal Administration;
• (III). Public Financial Administration;
• (IV). Comparative and Development Administrationand
• (V). Public Policy Analysis
• The scope of public administration varies with people’s expectations of what
they should get from government. Throughout the world the demands made
by the people upon governments have continually increased and in time to
come they would further increase.
 Importance of public administration

• Public administration has a very important place not only as an instrument of

governance but also as an important mechanism for preserving and
promoting the welfare of community in the era of welfare states. It has a
great impact upon the life of the people as well. It is a vital process charged
with the implementation of great objective.
• The importance of public administration may be studied under three
heads:
• (I). Its importance to the people.
• (II). Its importance in a democracy
 Public Administration and the People

• Public administration has a very important place in the life of people.

• It is the branch of government that touches more directly and more strikingly
than any other the lives of human beings.
• All people use the service of public administration almost in their day to day
their activities.
• There are several departments of administration like the Registrar
Generals department, City water department, City Health department,
and Central Vehicle Registry department etc, which affect almost every
citizen in one way or other.
• With the advancement of science and technology the problem of
maintaining effective coordination between the administration and the
rest of the community has become great important. So the pursuit of
knowledge of public administration becomes most essential element in
the modern time.
 Public Administration and Democracy

• The ideals of democracy, i.e., progress, prosperity and protection of the common
man can be obtained only through impartial, honest and efficient administration.
• An administrator should be neutral in politics and serve faithfully any political party
which comes in power.
• In the field of government he must possess some aptitude for getting along with
politicians.
• Modern democracy has brought in the concept of a welfare state. It has increased
the scope of state activity leading to ever increasing demands on public
administration for more and more of services. Undue intervention of politicians in
administration may cease to be an effective instrument for the realisation of
nations’ ideals.
 Importance of Public Administration as a Subject
• Almost for all his needs the citizen depends upon public administration.
• In view of the important role of public administration in the life of the people,
its study cannot be ignored by the citizen of a state.
• Therefore, its teaching should become a part of the curriculum of education.
• The study of public administration will help the people to become better
administrators.
 Causes of its Growing Importance

• Industrial revolution and technological developments have contributed to the

importance of public administration.
• The ordinary person can feel secure only if large scale organisation based on
sound principles of administration caters for his interests.
• The rapid means of transport and communication have made the existence of
large scale administration possible.
• Emergence of concept of planning for the socio- economic amelioration of the
common man has led to the development public administration.
• Formulation and execution of these plans widens the sphere of public
administration.
• With the inception of welfare states the concept of police states has suffered
setbacks.
• The welfare states look after the individuals in all way of life. These are the
factors responsible for the development and growing importance of public
administration.
 Public and private administration

• Public administration and private administration are two species of the same
genus, namely administration.
• But administration exercises great power, more in public administration.
• Public administration is often compared with private administration with a
view to finding out similarities and dissimilarities between the two.
• Both the ‘classical organisation theory’ and ‘human relation theory’
first originated in private administration.
• The management of affairs by private individuals or body of
individuals is private administration while management of affairs by
central, state or local government is public administration.
• There are some points of similarity between public and private
administration. However, there are some basic differences between
the public and private administration.
 The following are the important differences
between the two types of administration.
• (a). Political Direction
• In public administration there is political direction. The administrators
under public administration have to carry out the orders which he gets
from the political executive with no option of his own.
• (b). Profit Motive
• Public administration is conducted with the motive of service while the
motive of private administration is profit making. If private administration
is useful to the public, its service to it is a by-product of profit making.
Private administration will never undertake a work if it does not bring
profit.
• (c). Service and cost
• In public administration there is an intimate relationship between service
rendered and the cost of the service charged from the public. Only such
amount of money is raised by taxation, which is necessary for the
rendering of service. In private administration income of funds exceeds
expenditure because there is usually an attempt to extract as much
money as possible from the public.
• (d). Nature of Functions
• Public administration is more comprehensive. It deals with the
various types of the needs of the people. In a socialist State the
scope of State is still larger. Private administration does not cover so
many aspects of human life. It mostly concerned with the economics
needs of life.
•
• (e). Efficiency
• It is considered by many that in public administration efficiency is
less. Because of extravagance, redtapism, and corruption, may
dominate in public administration, and therefore may not be in a
position to function in an efficient manner. But in private
administration the level of efficiency is superior to public
administration. The incentive of more profits impels the individuals to
devote more time and effort to work.
• (f). Public Responsibility
• Public administration has responsibility to the public. It has to face
the criticism of the public, press, and political parties. The private
administration does not have any great responsibility towards the
public. It is only responsible to the people indirectly and that too for
securing its own ends and not for the welfare of the people.
• (g). Public Relations
• The public and private administration also differs on the principles of
public relations. Public relations havea narrower content in public
administration than in private administration.
• (h). Uniform Treatment
• Public administration is consistent in procedure and uniform in
dealings with the public. In such a system a civil servant cannot show
favour to some people and disfavour to others. But private
administration need not bother much about uniformity in treatment.
• (i). Monopolistic
• In the field of public administration, there is generally a monopoly of
the government and it does not allow private parties to compete with
it. For example, no person can establish passport printing services,
railways etc. But in private administration, several individuals or
organizations compete with each other to supply the same
commodity or meet the same needs. Thus there is no monopoly in
private administration.
•
• (j).Financial meticulousness
• Public administration has to be very careful in financial matters.
Public money is to be spend meticulously and according to the
prescribed procedure. It is the legislature, which exercises financial
control over executive. But there is no difference between finance
and administration in private administration. There is no external
financial control.
• (k). Social Prestige
• Public Administration carries a greater social prestige than private
administration. Service to the community is the basic characterizing
public administration.
• (l).Social Consequence
• The social consequence of public administration will be great because
a defect in it will do more harm to the public. But in private
administration this will be less. Even if any harm is done by it will be
of less significance and thereby may be negligible.
• The Public Administration has certain distinctive features, which
differentiate it from private administration. Public Administration is far
more closely tied up with the constitution and formal laws of a country
than private administration. It is thus closest to political science and
emphasises elements such as equality, fairness and rule of law in decision-
making. Private administration, on the other hand, stands by profit,
effectiveness, cost- benefit analysis. The difference between the two is
more apparent than real. Both respond to the environment differently’
which inevitably produces consequences for the functioning of
organisation and their management. It can be concluded that public and
private administration are the two species of the same genus, but they
have special values and techniques of their own which give to each its
distinctive character.
• Review questions
• Outline the main elements covered by public administration
• Discuss the main elements of the integral view and the managerial view.
• Discuss the main elements of POSDCORB
• Distinguish between public administration and private administration
 Public Administration and law

• With the ever-growing complexity of administration tasks the administrative

techniques to achieve them also become more and more complex.
• Achievement of some objectives is possible through persuasion or constant
watch and periodical inspections.
• Some of the objectives can be achieved only through the control of human
behaviour by applicability of set rules and orders.
• These administrative rules and orders are described by different names, viz.,
Administrative Law or rule making, procedures, Administrative Legislation,
Delegated Legislation and Quasi Legislation
• In its broader sense, Administrative Law as understood is the whole body of
law relating to public administration.
• Administrative law is the sum total of the principles according to which the
activity of the service (other than judicial) concerned with the execution of
law is exercised.
• It is one of the two grate branches of the public law, the other being
Constitutional Law.
• Constitutional law is concerned with the construction of the machinery of
the government, while administrative law studies the parts of which that
machinery is made, their interrelation and the way in which each of them
functions.
• In a narrower sense, administrative law is the law of official powers and
responsibility, or the law which determines the amount of discretion
permitted to administrative officers and agencies.
• In the books on the public administration and administrative law, the subject
is usually dealt with in this sense, the topics covered including the legal basis
of administration, administrative discretion and its limits, various kinds of
official responsibility.
 Definitions of Administrative Law

• “Administrative law is the law relating to the administration. It determines

the organisation , powers and duties of administrative authorities and
indicates to the individual remedies for the violation of rights”.
• Administrative law is “that part of the public law which fixes the organisation
and determines the competence of the administrative authorities and
indicates to the individual remedies for the violation of rights”.
• “ as a system of jurisprudence which on the one hand relieves public officials
from amenability to the ordinary courts for acts performed in their official
capacity and on the other hand sets up a special jurisdiction to hold them
accountable”.
• Sources of Administrative Law comprise large number statutes, charters,
rules, regulations and procedures and also those resolutions, orders,
decisions, etc.
• Administration includes both the law that controls the administration
as well as the law made by the administrative authorities.
• The administrative law are:
• (1).the constitution of the country
• (2).the enactments or statutes and resolutions of the legislature
• (3). Charters granted by the legislature or the executive
• (4). Ordinances, rules, regulations, orders or decisions issued by the
administrative authorities
• (5). Customs and conventions
• (6). Judicial decisions.
Scope of Administrative Law

• In its wider sense, Administrative Law covers the whole of public

administration. In reality, public administration is studied under the
name of Administrative Law.
• The following outlines of the scope of administrative law:
• (a) Problems of public personnel.
• (b) Problem of financial administration.
• (c) Legal conditions of administrative discretion
• (d) Administrative law and administrative courts.
• (e) Administrative regulations
• (f) Administrative examinations
• (g) Government contracts
• (h) Claims against Government
• (i) Remedies against administrative action
• (j) Law relating to the status and recognition of personal association
• (k) legal rules as applicable to the action of plural–headed administrative
bodies.
• Administrative law is the body of law which concerns the functions of
administration and the relations of the administrative authorities with the
individuals as well as the other authorities of the state. It does not deal with
the organisation of these administrative authorities and their internal
problems, which come within the scope of public administration.
 Rule of Law

• The rule of law is one of the peculiar features of the constitution. The
conception of the ‘rule of law’ was fully analysed and set forth by A V. Dicey,
in his book “Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution”. Dicey
gave to the rule of law, three distinct interpretations.
• 1). Rule of law means that “no man is punishable or can be lawfully made to
suffer in body or goods except for a distinct breach of law established in the
ordinary legal manner before the ordinary courts of the land”. It implies that
no one can be punished arbitrarily.
• 2).The Rule of law means equality before law. Dicey observes that “not only
with us no man is above the law, but that here every man, whatever be his
rank or condition, is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amenable
to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals”. It implies that, every citizen,
rich or poor, high or low is subject to uniform law and the same courts of
law. If any public official commits any wrong or exceeds the power vested in
him by law, he can be sued in any ordinary court and will be tried in a will be
tried in any ordinary court and will be tried in an ordinary manner.
• 3). Rule of law means that “the general principles of the constitution are
.... the result of judicial decisions determining the rights of private
persons in particular cases brought before the courts”. It implies that in
the Zimbabwean context, the right of citizen do not flow the constitution
but are based on various judicial decisions.