Hyderabad, June 23 -- a plea of malice against a public authority must be specifically pleaded and proved with cogent material; courts will not infer an oblique motive from a pattern of adverse outcomes alone (Indian Railway Construction Co. Ltd. v. Ajay Kumar, (2003) 4 SCC 579 - Supreme Court of India / India Code). Consequently, even where the administrative record, viewed in the aggregate, reveals a pattern of denials that track religious identity, no individual applicant will be able to discharge the burden of proving that the Collector who refused his or her application was motivated by sectarian purpose rather than a genuine assessment of public order.

This insulation of administrative action from effective judicial scrutiny is not...