Article 12 of the Constitution of India deals with the term State and the
necessary institutions that would fall under the ambit of the word State. Before
we critically analyze this definition with relevance to the jurisprudence that
has been laid down by our judiciary, we would first take a look at what Article
12 says. It reads,
In this part, unless the context otherwise requires, the State includes the
Government and Parliament of India and the Government and the Legislature of
each of the states within the country and all local or other authorities within
the territory of India or under the control of the Government of India.
The few institutions that have been categorically pointed out by this definition
are both the Central and the State Governments along with all local authorities
within its ambit. Now the point of controversy was the phrase
other
authorities which hasn't been properly defined as such in the Article. To
answer the same, the judiciary has laid down a number of institutions that can
be considered within the boundaries of the term other authorities as
enumerated in Article 12. We shall take a look at them one by one with the help
of relevant cases.
The first institution that was brought to the notice of the courts with regards
to whether it can fall under the ambit of State under Article 12 was a
University. This was the point of contention in the case of
University of
Madras vs Shanta Bai (AIR 1954 Mad 67). The Madras High Court held that other
authorities could only indicate other authorities of a like nature (by invoking
the principle of Ejusdem Generis meaning of the same kind). It could only mean
authorities exercising governmental or sovereign functions. It could not include
persons, natural or juristic (such as a University) unless it is maintained by
the State.
This view was opposed in the case of
Smt.Ujjam Bai vs State of Uttar Pradesh
(1962 AIR 1621). Here the court rejected this restriction to the interpretation
of the word other authorities given by the Madras High Court and said that the
rule of Ejusdem Generis could not be applied to the interpretation of the
expression other authorities. The Supreme Court with respect to the
interpretation of the term other authorities said that there is no one genus
under Article 12.
The next institution that came to be questioned before the courts was a State
Electricity Board and whether that could be included under the definition of
State as enumerated in Article 12.
The case that we shall be talking about is
Rajasthan State Electricity Board vs
Mohanlal (AIR 1967 SC 1857). The Supreme Court, rejecting the principle of
Ejusdem Generis and overturning some previous decisions of the High Courts,
referred to the dictionary meaning of the term authority. It said that the
expression
other authorities is wide enough to include within it, every
authority created by a statue and functioning within the territory of India, or
under the control of the Government of India.
One thing that must be noted in
this judgement is that Justice Shah concurred in the judgement but gave a
different opinion. According to Justice Shah, Article 12 must be interpreted in
the context of Part III, which guaranteed that fundamental individual rights
would not be encroached upon. Taking into account, these two lines of approach
given by the Supreme Court, we come across two distinct approaches, namely the
Legal Approach and the Functional Approach. The legal approach talks about how
that institution in question would have some governmental control in any form.
On the other hand, the functional approach talks about the functions performed
by that institution.
The next question was whether Corporations as such be considered to fall within
the ambit of the word State under Article 12. The Corporations in question were
The Life Insurance Corporation of India, The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and
the Industrial Finance Corporation. The case in question,
Sukhdev Singh vs
Bhagat Ram (AIR 1975 SC 1331)
Justice Mathews who is often referred to as the Crusader of Article 12 concurred
in this judgement and while he held that all the three of them fell under the
ambit of State, he gave a very interesting opinion. He talks about a welfare
State, and talks about whether that body can be called as an instrumentality or
agency of the State that has been set up to take care of the welfare function of
the State.
He lays down two conditions for the body to be called an
instrumentality of the State. Firstly, if it is formed under a statute i.e. it
is a statutory body and secondly if it has the power to make its own rules. In
both these cases they would fall within the ambit of the word State.
The next case that deals with the question as to whether an Airport Authority
can be considered as State or not has been dealt with in the case of
Ramana
Dayaram Shetty vs International Airport Authority of India (1979 AIR 1628). In
this case, tenders had been invited for the setting up of one restaurant and two
snack bars at the Airport of Bombay. Two specific conditions had been laid down
that only 2nd class Hoteliers could apply for the tender and secondly that these
2nd class hoteliers must have at least 5 years of experience in that business.
It was in this case that the Supreme Court laid down the 5-pointer test to
decide whether the body can be called as an instrumentality of the State or not.
The first condition was that it had to be looked into whether the State held the
entire share capital of that body or not. Secondly it had to be looked into as
to whether the state had a deep and persuasive control over that body or not.
The third condition that had to be looked into was whether the financial
assistance given by the state, enough to take care of the entire expenditure of
the body.
The fourth condition that had to be looked into was whether that body
had been granted a monopoly status conferred or preserved by the State. The last
condition was that did the body perform a function of public importance or was
the body a government department which had been transferred to a corporation. We
shall see in another case as to how the court has tried to sum up the 5-pointer
test given in this
RD Shetty case.
The next case that we would talk about, deals about whether a society could be
termed as a State under Article 12 or not. The case in question,
Ajay Hasia vs
Khalid Mujib Sehravardi (1981 AIR 487). In this case, Regional Engineering
College in Srinagar was registered under the Jammu and Kashmir, Registration of
Societies Act, 1898. For entrance to the college, students had to qualify an
examination in which there was a viva test within which the only questions asked
were in relation to the place of residence and parentage.
This came to be
challenged as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. The Court held that
this would fall under the ambit of State under Article 12. The reasoning was
multi fold. Firstly, the composition of the society was dominated by the
representatives appointed by the Government. Secondly, the entire finance of the
society was taken care of by the government. The rules of the society were also
supposed to be made by themselves only but with the approval of the government
and the accounts of the society were also under the scrutiny of the government.
The control of the State and Central Governments is indeed so deep and
persuasive that no immovable property of the society could be disposed off
without the authority of the government. The Governments also had the power to
appoint any person whom they wanted as a member of that society. Hence, here the
court held that the instrumentality of State extends to the Society and it can
be termed as State under other authorities.
Moving on, the next institution in question was a council, in the case of
Sabhajit Tewary vs Union of India (1975 AIR 1329). The 5 judge Constitutional
Bench of the Supreme Court, in this case went ahead and said that the Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research cannot be termed as State. The Court said
that it does not have a Statutory Character like the ONGC, LIC and IFC.
This verdict of the Supreme Court however was overturned in the case of Pradeep
Kumar Biswas vs Indian Institute of Chemical Biology (2002). Here the 7-judge
Constitutional Bench overruled the judgement given in Sabhajit Tewary's case. It
was in this case that Justice Ruma Pal tried to sum up the 5-pointer test in one
sentence. She said that a body which is functionally, financially and
administratively under the control of the government and where the control is
pervasive, in that case, it can be referred to as an instrumentality of the
state.
The final case that we shall be talking about with respect to other
authorities as enumerated under Article 12, is the case of Zee Telefilms Ltd vs
Union of India (decided in the year 2005), more famously known as the BCCI case.
The question before the court was whether BCCI could be termed as State or not.
The Court said that BCCI could not be termed as State because of the following
reasons.
- The Board is not created by a Statute.
- No part of the share capital of the Board is held by the Government.
- Practically no financial assistance is given by the government to meet
the boards expenses.
- The Board does enjoy a monopoly status in terms of cricket but this has
not been conferred by the State.
- There is no existence of a deep and pervasive State control. The control
if any is only regulatory in nature as applicable to other similar bodies.
This control is not specifically exercised under any special statute
applicable to the Board. All functions of the Board are not public functions
nor are they closely related to governmental functions.
- The board is not created by transfer of a Government owned Corporation.
It is an autonomous body.
We see, right from the
Shanta Bai case to the BCCI case, the various ways and
justifications that the judiciary has given to give a definition to the term
other authority as enumerated under the definition of State under Article 12.
Right from University's, State Electricity Boards, Corporations, Airport
Authority, Society's, to a Council and finally to the BCCI, we see how the
courts have evolved the way other authorities is to be interpreted. We rely on
this established jurisprudence to understand what the constitution makers meant
by the term other authorities as given under Article 12 of the Constitution of
India.
Written By: Mr. Saikat Mukherjee, A 3rd Year BA LLB student at Symbiosis Law
School Nagpur.
Email:
[email protected]
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