Pradeep Kumar Biswas v. Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, 2002 SC
| Citation | 992 of 2002 |
| Date of judgement | APRIL 16, 2002 |
| Court | Supreme Court Of India |
| Case type | Writ Petition ( Civil ) |
| Petitioner | PRADEEP KUMAR BISWAS AND ORS. |
| Respondent | INDIAN INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL BIOLOGY AND ORS. |
| Bench | Bharucha, S.P. (Cji), Quadri, S.S.M. (J), Lahoti, R.C. (J), Hegde, N.S. (J) Raju, Doraiswamy (J), Pal, Ruma (J) Pasayat, Arijit (J) |
| Referred | Article 14, Article 12, Article 323A |
FACTS OF THE CASE
The Petitioner filed a writ petition before the Calcutta High Court to challenge the termination of their services by ‘Indian Institute of Chemical Biology’ which is a unit of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
The Calcutta High Court rejected this writ petition because of the decision taken in an earlier case ‘Sabhajit Tewary case(1967)’ in which CSIR was held not to be an ‘authority’ under Article 12.
Aggrieved by the decision, On 5th August 1986, a Special Leave Petition was filed before the Supreme Court , which was moved to a larger 7-member constitutional bench to review and reconsider the Sabhajit Tewary case.
ISSUE RAISED
- Does CSIR fall within the ambit of Article 12 of the Indian constitution, within the meaning of “State”?
- Should the Supreme Court reconsider the judgement given in the case of Sabhajit Tewary ?
ARGUMENTS
Petitioners argued that CSIR comes under ambit of Article 12 within the meaning of state cause it was formed for national interest to increase the economic development in the society. Further they also argued that CSIR also fosters industrial development in India.
Respondents argued that the judgement given in the case of Sabhajit Tewary should be followed. Also the functions of the CSIR cannot be regarded as governmental or of essential public importance or as closely related to governmental functions or being fundamental to the life of the people or duties and obligations to the public at large.
JUDGEMENT
- The court ultimately allowed the writ petition and held that the Sabhajit Tewary decision was erroneous and hence must be reconsidered.
- The court also held CSIR to be within the ambit of “other authorities” under Article 12 and hence a “state” against whom writ can be issued.
REFERENCES
written by Sharlika Chavan from ILS Law College,Pune. Intern at Legal Vidhiya
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