Judicial Review of Administrative Action in Bangladesh: Doctrinal Analysis of Case Law

The power to take administrative actions, i.e., a wide range of power to implement the laws, are exercised by the executive organ in a modern democratic State like Bangladesh. As a consequence of exercising such power, the executive has the opportunity to take actions beyond the authority of law. In this circumstance, the judicial review, i.e., the authority of the courts to review the legislative and executive actions and to decide whether these actions are consistent with the laws and values laid down in the Constitution, plays an important role to control the excessive use of administrative power. Bangladesh does not differ from this trend. There are a large number of instances where the judiciary review administrative actions in Bangladesh. However, the judiciary has some limitations to exercise its power of judicial review. It cannot interfere in every administrative action according to the principle of separation of power among the organs. Therefore, the application of judicial review varies case to case and the judiciary, through doctrinal analysis, determine each case in this regard. Following a qualitative research methodology, the present article analyses some significant judicial decisions and demonstrates doctrinal insights from case law, in order to explore how the judiciary exercises its power of judicial review over administrative action in Bangladesh and to identify ways to widen judicial review over administrative actions in Bangladesh.