Key Terms & Concepts — UPSC Mains
Delegated Legislation
"Law-making power that Parliament confers on the executive to make rules, regulations or notifications under a parent statute, subject to defined procedural limits."
Delegated (or subordinate) legislation refers to rules, regulations, notifications, bye-laws and orders made by the executive under authority conferred by an Act of Parliament (the 'parent' or 'enabling' Act). Since a legislature cannot anticipate and enact every technical or evolving detail required to implement a law, it delegates the power to fill in that detail to ministries, regulators or other executive bodies, subject to the scope and conditions the parent Act specifies. A critical distinction, frequently tested, exists between a properly issued statutory notification and a mere internal executive instruction (an Office Memorandum or administrative circular). A statutory notification goes through the rule-making, publication and, where required, parliamentary-laying procedure built into the parent Act, and can validly create binding exceptions or modifications within the Act's framework. An Office Memorandum, by contrast, is a routine internal communication that does not undergo this procedure and cannot override or create exceptions to a mandatory statutory scheme. Courts exercise judicial review over delegated legislation on grounds including 'excessive delegation' (where Parliament has abdicated essential legislative function rather than merely delegating detail), 'ultra vires' (where a rule exceeds what the parent Act authorises), and conflict with the parent Act's own object and purpose.
A foundational GS2 concept tested through Prelims-style 'which instrument can do what' questions and Mains questions on separation of powers and judicial review of executive rule-making; the 2026 Supreme Court ruling on ex-post-facto environmental clearances is a fresh, concrete application.
- 1 Delegated legislation = rules/regulations/notifications made by the executive under a parent Act's authority.
- 2 Must stay within the scope Parliament defined in the enabling Act ('intra vires'); action beyond that scope is 'ultra vires'.
- 3 A statutory notification (proper delegated legislation) can create binding exceptions; an Office Memorandum (internal instruction) cannot.
- 4 'Excessive delegation' doctrine: Parliament cannot delegate its essential legislative function, only the power to fill in detail.
- 5 Subject to judicial review for consistency with the parent Act and constitutional limits.
- 6 2026 Supreme Court ruling: an Office Memorandum cannot override the EIA Notification's mandatory prior-clearance requirement, since only a validly issued statutory instrument can create such an exception.
In 2026, the Supreme Court held that the MoEFCC's 2021 Office Memorandum permitting indefinite ex-post-facto environmental clearances was invalid because an internal administrative circular is not delegated legislation and cannot override the EIA Notification, 2006's statutory prior-clearance mandate.
