SUJIT KUMAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The primary legal issue which is involved in the present writ petition is, whether Bihar Police Men's Association is amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India or not. There are two aspects to this issue. Firstly, whether the said Association can be said to be a State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India. If it is a State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India, it will certainly be amenable to writ jurisdiction. However, if the said question is answered in negative, amenability of the Association to writ jurisdiction will depend on the second aspect as to whether the Association discharges any public function or not.

(2.) The petitioner in the present writ application is a constable in Bihar Police, presently posted at Gaya. He filed this writ application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking issuance of a writ in the nature of Certiorari, quashing the candidature/nomination of respondent No. 6 for the post of "Pradesh Adhyaksh of Bihar Police Men's Association" on the ground that after having been transferred from Patna to Lakhisarai, his candidature itself was invalid as he had not joined his new place of posting. The petitioner further sought for a direction to conduct free and fair election of the Central Executive of the Bihar Police Men's Association. During the pendency of the writ application, the election has been held, in which respondent No. 6 has been declared elected on 20/3/2021. Accordingly, an Interlocutory Application has been filed in August 2021 seeking amendment in the writ petition to challenge the election of respondent No. 6 as Pradesh Adhyaksh of Bihar Police Men's Association.

(3.) In the wake of the facts noted above, the issue which has been framed at the very outset has emerged. The identical issue had earlier come up for consideration before this Court in case of Constable No. 756 Liaquit Ali Vs. State of Bihar and Ors. (CWJC No. 15891 of 2017)(SB). In the decision rendered on 22/11/2017 in the case of Liaquit Ali (supra), noticing Supreme Court's decision in case of Federal Bank Ltd. Vs. Sagar Tomas and Ors. reported in (2003) 10 SCC 733 and Zee Telefilms Ltd. and Anr. Vs. Union of India and Ors. reported in (2005) 4 SCC 649, a Single-Bench of this Court has held in paragraph 10 as under :-