Discretion Ends Where Arbitrariness Begins
The European right to good administration (Article 41 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights) and the constitutional ban on arbitrariness bind all democratic institutions: statutory discretion must be exercised strictly within the boundaries of objectivity, practical realism, and constitutional proportionality. When administrative bodies exploit the formal letter of the law to construct blatant pretexts, stonewall legitimate civic rights, fabricate circular justifications, grant illicit favoritism, or cover up internal malpractice and official errors, they commit a severe abuse of power.
Merely because a statutory provision grants formal discretion does not make an administrative finding lawful if it defies elementary logic, scientific consensus, or common sense. Erecting flimsy pretexts that 99.9% of reasonable people and established empirical reality plainly refute is not faithful administration of justice, but deliberate bureaucratic harassment driven by questionable motives. Our investigative scrutiny begins precisely where administrative arbitrariness masquerades behind the facade of legality.