KRISHAN GOPAL RAM CHAND SHARMA Vs. PUNJAB UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition under Article 226 of the Constitution was heard by me sitting singly and as an important question of law was raised as to whether the respondent University would fall within the definition of State as given in Article 12 of the Constitution, I referred it to a Division Bench for decision.

(2.) IT is unnecessary to set out the facts which are given in the referring order. The main contention on behalf of the petitioner was that the respondent University had been guilty of a discriminatory act against him in the matter of his result in the P. E. L. examination and the question that has arisen is whether such an act, assuming for the sake of argument that it was discriminatory, could be struck down as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. Now, Article 14 inhibits the state from denying to any person equality before the law. Article 12 contains the definition of the expression "the State" and it is in the following terms :--

(3.) THE Madras decision was followed by Sinha J. in Ena Ghosh v. State of West bengal, AIR 1962 Cal 420 while considering whether the Sarojni Naidu College for women, Dum Dum, which was a Government sponsored college, was a State within the meaning of Article 12. In B. W. Devadas v. Selection Committee for admission of Students to the Karnatak Engineering College, AIR 1964 Mys 6, the question was whether me Karnataka Regional Engineering College Society fell within the definition of the term "state in Article 12. The Madras decision was followed in that case and it was held that an unsuccessful applicant for admission into that college could not complain of the infringement of the provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution. Narayana Pai J. , who delivered the judgment of the Bench, said that the term "state" was an abstract political conception and it could act only through agencies or instrumentalities through which it exerted its political power on those whom it governed or ruled. Article 14, therefore, necessarily sought to control State action or the action of the State through its agencies or instrumentalities. The Mysore Court further examined meaning of the term "authority" and said:--