Ram Jawaya Kapur v State of Punjab

• Punjab Government started operating bus services on certain routes through its Transport Department
• No specific legislation authorized the State to carry on bus transport business
• Private bus operators whose permits were affected challenged the State's action
• Operators argued: without legislative backing, executive cannot carry on commercial activity
• State argued: executive power under Art.162 is wide enough to cover commercial activities

1. Whether the executive can act without specific legislative authorization in areas not prohibited by law?
2. Whether the Indian Constitution mandates strict separation of powers?

• Executive power of the State is co-extensive with legislative power: it extends to all matters on which the State Legislature can make laws
• Indian Constitution does not recognize rigid or watertight separation of powers in the American sense
• Executive can act in any field where legislature has competence, unless a specific statute prohibits or pre-empts the field
• The executive can carry on trade/business without a statute, subject to fundamental rights and constitutional limitations
• Broad division of functions exists but overlaps are constitutionally permissible

Executive power under Art.162 (State) / Art.73 (Centre) is residuary in nature: it extends to all matters on which the respective legislature has power to make laws. The executive need not point to a specific statute for every action; it acts under constitutional authority unless prohibited. This necessitates administrative law controls because wide executive power without legal restraint leads to arbitrary governance.