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  Overview of Administrative Adjudication

Overview of Administrative Adjudication




 Meaning of Administrative Adjudication

Administrative adjudication is a name give to the administrative exercise of judicial functions. It is a name given to the various ways of deciding disputes outside the ordinary courts. Administrative adjudication is constitutional, though it is a negation of the principle of separation of powers. Administrative adjudication is the participation or involvement of the executive arm of government (administrative agencies) in judicial function. Through the instrumentality of administrative adjudication, administrative agencies can pass authoritative and appealable decisions.

Administrative adjudication is usually performed through the machinery of “Tribunals” and “Inquiries”. The organs of administrative adjudication handle public petitions. Many administrative bodies have a standing administrative adjudicatory body, or do set up an administrative adjudicatory body, from time to time, to meet for instance their in-house need for regulation, standard and discipline and so forth as the case may be.

Advantages of Administrative Adjudication

The advantages of administrative adjudication are summarily highlighted hereunder.

1.        Expert Knowledge: The first advantage characteristically advanced for administrative adjudication is that it facilitates the use of expert knowledge and skill and so diligence, care, and professionalism are usually brought to bear in such adjudicatory process. This is unlike the position in the normal court system where a single judge is a jack of all trade, and thus may be master of none. Administrative adjudication uses experts in that field where the issue bothers on.

2.        Speed: Cases which are handled by administration tribunals are more expeditiously determined compared with those handled by the courts. The case of Ariori v. Elemo, which lasted for 22 years, is a clear testimony to the fact. As a matter of factly, administration tribunals are usually given a time frame within which their report must be submitted or decisions reached.

3.        Cheapness:  Judicial  proceedings  can  be  not  only  time  consuming;  but  also  very demanding in terms of cost, so it is not cheap to litigate or for a person to ventilate his grievances through the instrumentality of the ordinary judicial process. (Examples of necessary expense include paying a lawyer, filling fees and sundry fees). However, all these can be done away with if we are talking about administrative adjudicatory process because the length of time to spend there is short; accordingly the litigant will not pay much transport fee or appearance fee.

4.        Informality:   Administrative   adjudicatory  process   is   usually  informal  and   not characterized  by  the  rigid  rules  of evidence  and  procedure  or  precedence,  which applies in a normal judicial process. This practice and procedure is usually responsible for the inbuilt delay in the court process.

5.        Flexibility:   From   informality   comes   a   situation   where   proceedings   before administrative tribunals are flexible. No rigidity, no hard and fast rules to contend with. The proceedings are usually amenable   to changes to suit a particular convenience. Thus, informality promotes flexibility. Note that the practice and procedure of administrative tribunals are not rigid, but are generally amenable to changes.

Disadvantages of Administrative Adjudication

The disadvantages of administrative adjudication are inferable from the advantages. They are:

1)        Lack of Openness or Publicity: Proceedings in a court are expected to be open and transparent and impartial in consonance with section 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).  So hearing of cases in camera is unconstitutional except in permissible or permitted instances. But, proceedings of administrative tribunals are usually characterized by secrecy and confidentiality. One may not only know the ground for taking the decision, but also, may not know who is taking the decision.  This is because discretionary powers are exercised by persons making the decision. This, of course, does not mean that the judicial officers manning the court do not exercise discretionary power. Lastly, this character of secrecy and confidentiality is critical because openness promotes transparency, probity and accountability and impartiality: Board of Education v. Rice.

2)        Negation of the Principle of Fair Hearing: Although, this is a part of the aspect of openness, in most cases, the administrative agencies sitting as a tribunal is the prosecutor, the accuser and the judge. But, in a normal judicial process,  this can  happen  only to  a  limited  extent  given  that  even  judicial independence in the wider sense is not guaranteed in absolute terms. Also, the decision of the tribunal may be self-serving, pre-determined or prejudicial. The decision is predictable because he who pays the piper dictates the tune.

3)        Appointment  of  Experts  in  most  cases  is  not  a  Reflective  of  Expert Knowledge: In other words, experts are normally appointed based on political patronage rather than merit or competence. So there is absence of the required knowledge or professionalism which is needed.

4)        Absence of Judicial Training and Knowledge on the Part of the Members of the Administrative Tribunal: Of course, in most cases, the persons who preside  over  these  tribunals  are  not  trained  or  knowledgeable  in  judicial processes. Thus, their own notion of justice is without any established parameter or form. For instance, the do not know that the discretionary power exercise by the judge is both judicial and judicious.

5)        Problem   of   Flexibility:   This   inevitably   creates   uncertainty,   lack   of consistency, and unpredictability. Thus, if the procedure is flexible, you cannot determine with any reasonable degree of precision what the outcome of the case in the tribunal will be.
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02:21:00  Administrative Adjudication, Administrative Law, Law Lecture Series, lectures

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