Administrative Discretion or Abuse of Power?

A state government, in a bid to attract tourists, announces a policy allowing any film unit to shoot a film within the state without prior permission. However, after 6 months, they impose a condition that the film unit must obtain a permission from the District Collector for every location shoot. A film unit is booked by the Collector for not obtaining the permission, and it files a writ petition challenging the Collector's order. Now, here's the twist - the film unit was actually owned by the Collector's sister-in-law. Most students get this question wrong by assuming the Collector's order was an administrative discretion, but that's a trap.

The Collector's order here is a clear case of abuse of power. The condition of obtaining permission was not announced at the time the policy was announced, nor was it a legitimate administrative discretion. This is a clear case of post-hoc rationalization.