Therefore to understand the expanded meaning of

the term other authorities inArticle 12, it is

necessary to trace the origin and scope
of Article 12 in the Indian Constitution.
Present Article 12 was introduced in the
Draft Constitution asArticle 7. While initiating a
debate on this Article in the Draft Constitution in
the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Ambedkar described
the scope of this Article and the reasons why
this Article was placed in the Chapter on
fundamental rights as followed:

The object of fundamental rights is twofold. First,

that every citizen must be in a position to claim
those rights. Secondly, they must be binding upon
every authority I shall presently explain what the
word authority means upon every authority
which has got either the power to make laws or the
power to have discretion vested in it. Therefore, it
is quite clear that if the fundamental rights are to
be clear, then they must be binding not only upon
the Central Government they must not only be
binding upon the Provincial Government, they must
not only be binding upon the Governments
established in the Indian States, they must also be
binding upon District Local Boards, Municipalities,
even village Panchayats and taluk boards, in fact
every authority which has been created by law and
which has got certain power to make laws, to make
rules, or make bye-laws.
If that proposition is accepted and I do not see
anyone who cares for Fundamental Rights can
object to such a universal obligation being imposed
upon every authority created by laws then, what
are we to do to make our intention clear? There are
two ways of doing it one way is to use a composite
phrase such as the State, its we have done
in Article 7; or, to keep on repeating every time,
the Central Government the Provincial Government
the State Government the Municipality, the Local
Board, the Port Trust or any other authority. It
seems to me not only most cumbersome but stupid
to keep on repeating this phraseology every time
we have to make a reference to some authority.
The wisest course is to have this comprehensive
phrase and to economies in words.

From the above, it is seen that the intention of

the Constitution framers in incorporating
this Article was to treat such authority which has
been created by law and which has got certain
powers to make laws to make rules and regulations
to be included in the term other authority as
found presently in Article 12. This definition has
given birth to series of judgments and cases
primarily due to inclusion of words authority in
the last part of the definition.

Attempts have been made to determine the scope

this word initially the definition of State was
treated as exhaustive and confined to the
authorities or those which could be read
ejusdegeneris with the authorities mentioned in the
definition of Article 12 itself.

The next stage was reached when the definition of

State came to be understood with reference to
the remedies available against it. For example,
historically, a writ of mandamus was available for
enforcement of statutory duties or duties of a
public nature. Thus a statutory corporation, with
regulations farmed by such Corporation pursuant
to statutory powers was considered a State, and
the public duty was limited to those which were
created by statute.

The decision of the Constitution Bench of this Court

in Rajasthan Electricity Board v. Mohan Lal and Ors,
is illustrative of this. The question there was
whether the Electricity Board which was a
corporation constituted under a statute primarily
for the purpose of carrying on commercial activities
could come within the definition of State in article
12.
Meaning of the State
According to Article 12 of the Constitution of India,
the term State can be used to denote the union
and state governments, the Parliament and state
legislatures and all local or other authorities within
the territory of India or under the control of the
Indian government.

Over the period of time, the Supreme Court has

explained the ambit of State to include
Corporation such as LIC and ONGC since they
perform tasks very close to governmental or
sovereign functions. In fact, the term State also
accommodates any authority thats created by
the Constitution of India and has the power to
make laws. It need not perform governmental or
sovereign functions.
Understanding the Meaning of State
Under Article 12
Executive and legislature of Union and states
include union and 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.

Local authorities, as used in the definition, refers

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.
Definition of State U/A 12
Article 12 defines the term State as used in
different Articles of Part III of
theConstitution. It says that unless the
context otherwise requires the term State
includes the following ;-
1. The Government and Parliament of India, i.e.,
Executive and Legislature of the Union.
2. The Government and Legislature of each State,
i.e., Executive and Legislature of State..
3. All local and other authorities within the territory
of India.
4. All local and other authorities under the control
of the Government of India.

The term State thus includes executives as well as

the legislative organs of the Union and States. It is,
therefore, the actions of these bodies that can be
challenged before the courts as violating
fundamental rights.

a) Authorities According to Websters

Dictionary; Authority means a person or body
exercising power to command. In the context
of Article 12, the word authority means the
power to make laws, orders, regulations, bye-laws,
notification etc. which have the force of law and
power to enforce those laws.

b) Local Authorities - Local authorities as

defined in Section 3 (31) of the General Clause Act
refers to authorities like Municipalities, District
Boards, Panchayats, Improvement Trust and Mining
Settlement Boards. In Mohammed Yasin v. Town
Area Committee, the Supreme Court held that the
bye-laws of a Municipal Committee charging a
prescribed fee on the wholesale dealer was an
order by a State authority contravened article 19
(1) (g). these bye-laws I effect and in substance
have brought about a total stoppage of the
wholesale dealers business in the commercial
sense. In Sri Ram v. The Notified Area Committee, a
fee levied under Section 29 of the U.P.
Municipalities Act, 1919, was held to be invalid.

c) Other authorities - in Article 12 the expression

other authorities is used after mentioning a few of
them, such as, the Government, Parliament of
India, the Government and Legislature of each of
the State and all local authorities. In University of
Madras v. Santa Bai, the Madras High Court held
that other authorities could only mean authorities
exercising governmental or sovereign functions. It
cannot include persons, natural or juristic, such as,
a University unless it is maintained by the State.
In Article 12 the bodies specifically named are the
Government of the Union and the States, the
Legislature of the Union and the States and local
authorities. There is no common genus running
through these named bodies nor can these bodies
so placed in one single category on any rational
basis.

In Electricity Board, Rajasthan v. Mohan

Lal, the Supreme Court held that the expression
other authorities is wide enough to include all
authorities created by theConstitution or statute on
whom powers are conferred by law. It is not
necessary that the statutory authority should be
engaged in performing governmental or sovereign
function.
Extended Interpretation of the term State
applicable ONLY to Part III and Part IV
The extended Interpretation of the definition of the
term State is limited in its application only to Part
III and Part IV and it does not extend to the other
provisions of the Constitution, e.g., Article 309,
310, 311, which find a place in Part XIV.Therefore,
an employee of a Statutory Corporation can claim
the protection of Fundamental Rights but cannot
seek the safeguards contained in Article 311 for
the civil servants of the State.
Ajay Hasia No Rigid Set of Principles
The question as to when a body can be said to fall
within the scope of the term State within the
meaning of Article 12 was considered by
a Constitution Bench of seven learned Judges of
the S.C. in Pradeep Kumar Biswas v. Indian
Institute of Chemical Biology. Referring to the
different stages in the history of the development
of the law by Judicial decisions on the subject and
affirming the statement of the law made
inRajasthan S.E.B. v. Mohan Lal, the majority of
five learned judges overruled Sabhajit Tewary v.
Union of India, and held that the council of
Scientific and Industrial Research, although a
registered society, was a State within the meaning
of Article 12.

Considering the test formulating in Ajay Hasia

case, and holding that the tests so laid down, were
not a rigid set of principles, so that if a body fell
within anyone of them, it must, ex hypothesis, be
considered to be a State within the meaning
of Article 12, the majority ruled that the question in
each case would be whether in the light of the
cumulative facts as established, the body is
financially, functionally and administratively
dominated by or under the control of Government.
Such control must be particular to the body in
question and must be pervasive.

Not all Statutory Bodies can be termed as State

Both statutory an 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
control is not pervasive.
Does State include Judiciary?
In America it is well-settled that the judiciary is
within the prohibition of the 14th Amendment. The
judiciary, it is said, though not expressly mentioned
in Article 12 it should be included within the
expression other authorities since courts are set
up by statute and exercise power conferred by law.
it is suggested that discrimination may be brought
about.even (by) judiciary and the inhibition
of Article 14 extends to all actions of the State
denying equal protection of the laws whether it be
the action of any one of the three limbs of the
State.

Although there is no specific mention of judiciary

in Article 12, legal experts are of the opinion that
the judiciary should be included in the definition of
State. According to one school of thought, the
Supreme Court has the power to make rules (to
regulate practice & procedure of courts), appoint
its staff and decide its service conditions (as
mentioned in Article 147 and 146 of the
Indian Constitution). Hence, it perform the role of a
State.

In one of its latest observations, the apex court has

held that judiciary can be considered as a State
as far as its rule-making power is concerned, but it
would not be considered so when it exercises its
judicial powers.

The question whether the judiciary was included

within the definition of the State inArticle 12 arose
for consideration of the Supreme Court in Naresh v.
State of Maharashtra. It was held that even if a
Court is the State a writ under Article 32 cannot be
issued to a High Court of competent jurisdiction
against its judicial orders, because such orders
cannot be said to violate the fundamental rights.
Mr. H.M. Seervai is of opinion that the judiciary
should be included in the definition of the State
and a judge acting as a judge is subject to the writ-
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.