16 - Decolonizing Administrative Action

Summary

This chapter argues that the Supreme Court of Bangladesh has been moving towards a decolonized approach to judicial review of administrative action. The Court has been steadily disassociating its administrative jurisprudence from its colonial legacies on the one hand; while on the other, innovating doctrinal principles, modalities of statutory and constitutional interpretation and broadening its reliance on international legal authorities. In a bid to evolve a system of adjudication that addresses sociopolitical problems unique to Bangladesh, the Court has diverged from conventional Euro-American approaches. This divergence maybe understood in light of constitutional politics in Bangladesh, which is often animated by concerns over the doctrine separation of powers and threats to judicial autonomy. While the Court has been at the forefront of shaping administrative jurisprudence, the struggle to maintain its centrality and autonomy has also produced certain pathologies, thereby generating uncertainty and disequilibrium between institutional efficiency and administrative justice. Accordingly, the development of Bangladeshi administrative jurisprudence ought to be understood in light of these contextual and unique adaptations of judicial review.