Precis practice: Administrative discretion and public reason

Read the following original passage and write a précis of approximately one-third of its length. Supply a suitable title.

Discretion is unavoidable in administration because rules cannot anticipate every circumstance. Yet discretion becomes arbitrary when officials cannot explain why similar cases were treated differently. Public reason does not require every decision to be popular; it requires the reasons to be relevant, consistent, and open to review. A mature administrative system therefore combines clear rules with recorded reasons, supervision, appeal, and learning from past decisions. Excessive rigidity can produce injustice, but unexamined flexibility can produce favouritism. The practical task is not to eliminate discretion but to discipline it through institutions.