INDIAN JUTE INDUSTRIES RESEARCH ASSOCIATION Vs. DEBABRATA SARKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Appeal has been preferred by the Indian Jute Industries Research Association through its Secretary-cum-Financial Controller and other officers thereof (hereinafter referred to for the sake of brevity as IJIRA) praying for setting aside the judgment and order dated 25.11.2002 passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court in WP No. 7822 (W) of 1998 [Debabrata Sarkar v. Union of India] whereby and whereunder he was pleased to hold that the IJIRA is a "State" within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) According to Mr. Biswarup Gupta, learned senior Counsel appearing for IJIRA, the judgment is patently erroneous as none of the ingredients for purposes of applying the definition "State" are present or in existence insofar as IJIRA is concerned. According to him, IJIRA is not a "State" and therefore, it is not amenable to Writ Jurisdiction.

(3.) Let it be recorded that similar point of fell for consideration before this Court in WP No. 20039 (W) of 1999/AST 3414 of 1999 [Rabindranath Mukherjee v. Union of India & Ors.] and by an Order dated 15.5.2000, a learned Single Judge of this Court held that IJIRA was "an other authority" within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India. It appears that while delivering the aforementioned judgment, the learned Single Judge was in agreement with another judgment passed by another learned Single Judge of this Court in the case of Biswajit Chakraborty v. Indian Jute Industries Research Association reported in 1992 Lab IC 1539, which had also held that IJIRA was a "State" as defined under Article 12 of the Constitution of India.