Important Legal Definitions

Bias where an administrator or judge exhibits a predetermined, rigid policy stance or functions as both the prosecutor and the judge regarding a specific departmental objective, eliminating open-minded adjudication.

In Gullapalli Nageswara Rao v. APSRTC, the Secretary of the Transport Department heard public objections against a nationalization scheme formulated by his own department; the Supreme Court held the hearing invalid because the official suffered from subject-matter bias.