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TMI Blog1959 (9) TMI 47X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... view to take disciplinary action. He submitted his explanation. But before any final orders were passed on that enquiry the matter was entrusted to the police, who arrested the petitioner and registered the case against him under Section 420 I. P. C. (C. C. No. 287 of 1957). After trial the criminal case was decided in favour of the petitioner and he was acquitted on 9-3-1959. Thereafter, the petitioner requested the respondent-company to reinstate him in service. On 29-6-1959 the Managing Director of the respondent-company notified to the petitioner that he should report himself to duty at 9-45 a.m. on 30-6-1959. After he reported himself at about 10-45 a.m. on 30-6-1959, he was served with an order to the effect that his services were ter ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... own Memorandum and Articles of Association and its affairs are administered by a Board of Directors. Article 226 of the Constitution provides that the High Court could issue to any person or authority, including in appropriate cases any Government within whose territories, directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus. Mandamus, prohibition, quo-warranto, and certiorari, or any of them for the enforcement of any of the rights conferred by Part III of the Constitution and for any other purpose. It was sought to be argued that the expression "any person" used in Article 226 is of wide import and it would take in a case of a limited liability company like the respondent-company. It is true that the expr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is not the practice of the English Courts to issue writs of certiorari to a private body or tribunals having no juridical or quasi-judicial authority (vide R. v. Disputes Committee of the National Jt. Council for the Craft of Dental Technicians, 1953-1 All ER 327 and in Lee v. The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain, (1952) 2 QB 329. The same principles would apply in India. 8. In Nagabhushana Reddy, In Re : , Rajamannar C. J. and Somasundaram J., have held that under Article 226 of the Constitution of India a writ could be issued originally only against inferior courts, tribunals or bodies, entrusted by law of the land with powers affecting the rights of parties. In Indian Tobacco Corporation v. State of Madras, Rajamannar C. J. and Venk ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ld he regarded as a body having legal authority to determine question affecting the rights of subjects and having the duty to act judicially or performing quasi-judicial functions. It is not in dispute that it is a company registered under the Indian Company's Act. But what is contended for by the petitioner is that the Government of India have subscribed 80 per cent of the share capital, that 10 of the 13 Directors are nominated by the Government of India and that large subsidies and advances are being given by the Union Government from out of the Shipping Development Fund and, therefore, the Government of India must be regarded as having a controlling and administrative authority over the respondent-company. These circumstances will n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is case would support the contention of the petitioner. The University is a public authority, because it is the creature of a statute and a college which is an integral part of the University may partake of that character. But that reasoning cannot apply to the case of an incorporated company with share capital of its own and whose main intention is earning profits to be divided amongst the share-holders. It is neither a creature of a statute, nor a public authority, charged with the functions of adjudicating upon the rights of the subjects. Reference was also made to a decision of the Madras High Court in the University of Madras v. Shantha Bai, . The facts in that case were that a lady student applied for admission into an affiliated col ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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