UPSC Prelims 2021— Question 15

Unguided and uncontrolled discretionary power can permit arbitrary state action and therefore violates the equality guarantee under Article 14. Article 14 requires equality before law and equal protection of laws and has been interpreted to restrain arbitrariness. Articles 28, 32 and 44 address different constitutional subjects and do not provide the direct doctrinal basis asked here. The final answer-key position for Set C identifies option A as the correct option. Option A — Article 14 — is correct because it is the alternative that matches the constitutional, historical, geographical, scientific or economic principle established above. Option B — Article 28 — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option C — Article 32 — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option D — Article 44 — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. For PYQ interpretation, the distinction between the correct alternative and merely related facts is important. UPSC often places plausible distractors beside the precise statement that matches the underlying rule, chronology, definition or empirical relationship. The answer should therefore be read against the exact wording of the question rather than against a broadly related fact.