Judicial Review of Administrative Actions

Judicial review of administrative actions is concerned with the control of administrative bodies and also inferior Courts by the Superior Court of Records. As noted by Sir William Wade, Judicial review is the exercise of the Court inherent powers to determine whether an action is lawful or not and to award appropriate reliefs.

Therefore, Judicial review is concerned with the Courts power over public authorities and not private individuals or organizations. It is important to note that the High Court is vested with supervising jurisdiction over the proceedings and decisions of the inferior courts and Tribunals as well as government bodies. In Judicial review, the Court is concerned with the legality and not the merits of proceedings, decisions or acts of the inferior courts, Tribunals or government bodies. It is concerned with whether the lay down procedures were followed by the administrative body or whether the rules and principles of natural justice-right to fair hearing were adhered to or whether the body exceeded its powers when it took its decisions.

 In the case of Governor of Oyo v Folayan (1995) NSCNJ 50, the Supreme Court held obiter the principles that should be borne in mind by the Court when exercising the power of Judicial review of administrative actions, they are:

1.    That Judicial review is not an appeal

2.    That the Court must not substitute its judgment for that of the body whose decisions are                          reviewed.

3.   That the correct focus is not upon the decision, but on the manner in which it was reached, that what matters is the legality and not the correctness of the decision. That the reviewing court is not concerned with the merit of the target activity.

The applicant of judicial must be able to satisfy the call of illegality, breach of proceedings, the violation of the right to fairing as well as the violation of the powers of the bodies (ultra vires) which renders the decision unsustainable. Note that an appeal attacks the merit of the decision reached by the administrative body while judicial review attacks the proceedings leading to the decision. Where an applicant of judicial review succeeds, the court may award any of the prerogative writs and orders such as the Order of Certiorari, Prohibition, Injunction, mandamus, Declaration of Rights and the writ of harbeas corpus etc.

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