B SATYANARAYANA Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Writ Petitions Nos. 3477, 3459 and 5923 of 1978 have been referred to the Full Bench by a Division Bench consisting of Madhava Reddy and Muktadar, JJ., for deciding the question whether a writ can issue to the respondent Corporation, viz., the Andhra Pradesh State Irrigation Development Corporation -- a Corporation created not by a statute but incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956. Before the learned Judges it was contended on behalf of the petitioners that an earlier Bench decision in W. P. No. 5904 of 1978, D/- 8-12-1979, was not correctly decided. Reliance was placed upon the decision of the Supreme Court in Ramana Dayaram Shetty v. International Airport Authority, AIR 1979 SC 1628, and the opinion of Chinnappa Reddy, J., in U. P. Warehousing Corporation v. Vijay Narayan Vajpayee, AIR 1980 SC 840. When the matter came up before the Full Bench on 24-11-1980, it was brought to our notice that the Supreme Court has dealt with this very question in a writ petition relating to the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., and it would be advisable for this Bench to await a copy of the decision in that case. Accordingly, the matter was adjourned awaiting receipt of a copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, W. P. No. 854/1979 came up before me sitting singly, and since this writ petition too involved the same question as was already pending before the Full Bench, I directed the matter to be placed before the Full Bench,

(2.) After receiving a copy of the judgment of the Supreme Court in Bharat Petroleum Corporation's case (W. P. No. 1212 of 1977, D/- 13-11-1980) : (AIR 1981 SC 212), the Full Bench has again been constituted, and we have heard the counsel on both sides.

(3.) Article 226 of the Constitution of India empowers the High Court