The Role of the Administrative Court Of Justice in Guaranteeing the Rights of Citizens

Abstract

Citizenship rights, when considering a set of rights and duties that target citizenship in current modern society, have always been prone to violation and encroachment by governments. In Iran, for realizing and guaranteeing these rights, based on the Article 172 of the Constitution, an investigative authority called the Administrative Justice Court has been established to deal with people's complaints and grievances against the decisions of officials and illegal acts of administrative organizations. This court roots from the French Council of State. Before the Islamic Revolution, the legislator approved the establishment of the State Council in imitation of the French State Council, as well. However, due to some reasons, this Council did not succeed at that time.

The review of the efficiency issued by the Administrative Court of Justice reveals that this authority has a citizen-oriented approach rather than a government-oriented one, and in this vein, it has many strengths. Though, due to the challenges and legal situations, there is still a long way to obtain the optimal achievements and goals to play this role. Hence, according to the principle of rule of law, administrative authorities are obliged to make decisions within the framework of laws and regulations. In the rules and regulations for the decision-making of the administrative authorities, there are considerations that if they are not followed, it will conclude in the violation of these decisions. In Iran's legal system, the Administrative Court of Justice is the judicial authority for supervising the observance of the aforementioned obligations by the administrative authorities, and the judicial supervision of personal administrative decisions is under the jurisdiction of the branches of the Administrative Court of Justice.

This article is in pursuit of finding an answer to the question of what the branches of the administrative justice court have considered essential for administrative decision-making in order to realize and guarantee the rights of citizens. For, fulfilling the above-mentioned task, the branches of the Administrative Court of Justice, in their issued decisions, include the requirements that the administrative authority is required to observe in its decisions, including legality, equality and non-discrimination, documented and justified administrative decisions. They have paid attention and violated the administrative decisions if they are not followed because it will lead to the violation of citizen's rights.

Keywords: decision-making duties, personal administrative decisions, rule of law, citizen's rights, and administrative justice court