RITU JOSHI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Present writ petition has been filed by the Petitioner seeking the following reliefs:-

(2.) Appearing on behalf of AIL, Mr. Rajesh Ranjan, learned counsel for AIL, raises an objection to the maintainability of the writ petition against AIL, owing to the disinvestment process initiated by the Government of India. It is submitted that originally AIL was a statutory body constituted under the Air Corporations Act, 1953, however, post its repeal and in terms of the Air Corporations (Transfer of Undertakings and Repeal) Act, 1994, it had become a wholly owned company of the Government of India. It is at this stage that the present writ petition was filed and rightly entertained. However, now AIL has been privatised and the entire shareholding of the Government of India in AIL has been transferred to M/s. Talace Pvt. Ltd., (a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s. Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd.) and thus having ceased to be a Public Body or Authority within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India, AIL is no longer amenable to writ jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution. In support of the objection, reliance is placed on the judgment of a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Naresh Kumar Beri & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors., 2022 SCC OnLine Del 3585, wherein this issue was examined and after deliberating on the stands of the respective parties, writ petition was dismissed. Operative para of the judgement is as follows:

(3.) Learned counsel appearing for the Petitioner submits that the writ petition was filed in the year 2017 and thus Petitioner should not suffer on account of the intervening circumstances. A serious concern is also raised that if the writ petition is dismissed, leaving the Petitioner to resort to other remedies, AIL may, in future, disown its liability towards the Petitioner on ground of privatization.