Ashok Desai

He set aside the police decision and also struck down the relevant provisions of the Act as unguided and unconstitutional The trial itself became the subject matter of books and other plays.

[3] (b) Piloo Modi[4] This case been discussed by Professor Gyan Prakash in his book " Mumbai Fables"[5] under the heading " The State On Trial And The City Of Conspiracy[6] ".

The case advanced the proposition that land belonging to the State must be treated as being held in public trust and must realize a fair price.

"By lowering the standing threshold, articulating a quasi-trustee standard for the exercise of all government power, and fashioning a resolution that was prospective and ameliorative, Backbay anticipated the robust administrative law and public interest litigation (PIL) jurisprudence developed by the Supreme Court in later years.

[7]" (c) Antulay[8] in which cement was distributed by the Chief Minister to builders who happened to give donations to Indira Gandhi Pratishtan.

Justice Lentin found that there was quid pro quo and held that the administration was accountable even when it extracted donations for a public trust.

The case dealt with a tender for a food stall in the Bombay Airport where despite the conditions of eligibility a non-eligible person was given the allotment.

"Applying principles of administrative law given the expansion of State’s functions, the Court took upon itself the role of stepping in "to structure and restrict the power of executive government so as to prevent its arbitrary application or exercise[10] " (b) Narasimha Rao[11] about Parliamentary privilege.

The Supreme Court accepted the submission that Member of Parliament would be a public servant and would be subject to the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court resolved the issues by permitting the construction of the dam in stages commensurate at each level with relief and rehabilitation; (e) Amrendra Singh[14] was on legislative privilege where the court held that while the House had an undoubted right to expel a member for conduct unbecoming member of the House the privilege could not be exercised in relation to an activity that had no bearing on his legislative functions; (f) Nandini Sunder[15] considered the grievance of the tribal population who were caught in the cross fire between extremist Naxalites and vigilante groups supported by the State.

It held "that the appointing of tribal youth with little education as Special Police Officers engaged in counter- insurgency activities is violative of Article 14 and Article 21[16] " Desai was the Chairman of the Committee on Administrative Law of International Bar Association in 1986-88 and Consultant to the Commonwealth Workshop on Administrative Law at Lusaka, Zambia in 1990.