A Critique of Ajay Hasia v Khalid Mujib Sehravardi

A Rough Draft submitted in partial fulfilment of the course

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-I, 5th SEMESTER during the Academic Year
2018-2019

SUBMITTED BY:
Anupam Pandey
Roll No. - 1612
B.B.A LL.B

SUBMITTED TO: Prof.

Dr. Anirudha Prasad
FACULTY OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-I

AUGUST, 2018
CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, NAYAYA NAGAR,
MEETHAPUR, PATNA-800001
 INTRODUCTION

The term “State” is defined under Article 12 of Part III (Fundamental Rights) of the
Constitution of India.

It states that: 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 States
and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of
the Government of India. The definition in Article 12 is only for the purpose of application of
the provisions contained in Part III. Hence, even though a body of persons may not constitute
‘State’ within the instant definition, a writ under Article 226 may lie against it on non-
constitutional grounds or on grounds of contravention of some provision of the Constitution
outside Part III, e.g., where such body has a public duty to perform or where its acts
are supported by the State or public officials
Executive and legislature of Union and states include union & state governments along with
Parliament and state legislatures. The President of India and Governors of states can also be
referred as ‘State’ as they are a part of the executive. The term ‘government’ also includes
any department of government or any institution under its control. The Income Tax
Department and the International Institute for Population Sciences could be cited as
examples.

Literally ‘authority’ means a person or body exercising power or having a legal right to
command and be obeyed. An ‘Authority’ is a group of persons with official responsibility for
a particular area of activity and having a moral or legal right or ability to control others. If a
particular cooperative society can be characterized as a “State” under Article 12, it would
also be “an authority” within the meaning of Article 226 of the Constitution

“Authority” means a public administrative agency or corporation having quasi-governmental

powers and authorized to administer a revenue producing public enterprise. It is wide enough
to include all bodies created by a statute on which powers are conferred to carry out
governmental or quasi- governmental functions.

“Authority” in law belongs to the province of power. The word “State” and “Authority” used
in Article 12 remain among “the great generalities of the Constitution” the content of which
has been and continues to be applied by Courts from time to time ‘Local authorities’, as used
in the definition, refer to municipalities, panchayats or similar authorities that have the power
to make laws & regulations and also enforce them. The expression ‘Other authorities’ could
refer to any entity that exercises governmental or sovereign functions.

Both statutory and non-statutory bodies can be considered as a ‘State’ provided they get
financial resources from the government and “have deep pervasive control of government and
with functional characters”. ONGC, Delhi Transport Corporation, IDBI, and Electricity
Boards are referred as a ‘State’. However, entities such as NCERT cannot be considered a
‘State’ as they are not substantially financed by the government and the government control
is not pervasive.
 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The Aims and Objectives of this project are:

1. To study the constitutional provisions relating to definition of “State”
2. To study the relevance of judiciary as a state
3. To critically examine the case of “Ajay hasia v Khalid mujib sehravadi”

HYPOTHESIS

The researcher considers the following hypothesis:

1. The definition of state under article 12 is still incomplete.
2. The case gives an incomplete test for defining other authorities

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

For this study, primary research method was utilised. Various articles, e-articles, reports and
books from library were used extensively in framing all the data and figures in appropriate form,
essential for this study.
The method used in writing this research is primarily analytical.

TENTATIVE CHAPTERIZATION

1. Introduction
2. Definition Of “state” under article 12
3. Scope of Article 12
a) Authority
b) Interpretation of “Other authority”
c) Local authority within state of india
d) Authority outside India
4. Critical analysis of case “Ajay hasia v Khalid mujib sehravadi”
5. Is judiciary a state?
6. Opinions and Suggestions
7. Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. "The Constitution (Forty-Second Amendment) Act, 1976". Government of India.

Retrieved 1 December 2010.
2. Durga Das Basu, Commentary on Constitution of India,635, (22nd Edition 2015)
3. D.J. De’s Constitution of India, Asia Law House, 133 (1949)
4. R.D. Shetty v. The International Airport Authority of India and Ors. [1979] 1 S.C.R.1042
5. Ajay hasia v Khalid mujib sehravadi AIR1981SC487, (1981)1SCC722, [1981]2SCR79