Question

Doctrine of legitimate expectation and wednesbury principles were read by Supreme Court into:

• A. Art. 12
• B. Art.14
• C. Art. 23
• D. Art.22

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

The Correct Option is (B):Art.14

Answer 2

This question asks which Article the Supreme Court has used as the constitutional home for the doctrine of legitimate expectation and the Wednesbury principle of reasonableness. Let's go through the options.

1. Art. 12: This is a definitional provision. It tells us what "the State" means for the purposes of Part III, so that Fundamental Rights can be enforced against the right bodies. It does not itself lay down any standard of reasonableness or fairness.
2. Art.14: Article 14 guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of the laws, and the Supreme Court has read into it a wide anti-arbitrariness principle. Since the Wednesbury test asks whether administrative action is so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could have taken it, and legitimate expectation asks whether a public authority can go back on an assurance without a fair reason, both doctrines fit naturally under this anti-arbitrariness reading of Article 14.
3. Art. 23: This Article prohibits traffic in human beings and forced labour such as begar. It belongs to the right against exploitation and has no bearing on administrative reasonableness.
4. Art.22: This Article provides procedural safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention. It is about personal liberty in the criminal and preventive detention context, not about administrative decision making generally.

Of these, only Article 14, through its equality and non-arbitrariness reading, supplies the constitutional basis judges have used for legitimate expectation and Wednesbury unreasonableness.

The correct answer is Art.14.