According to Article 12 of the Constitution of India, the term ‘State’ denotes the union and state governments, the Parliament and state legislatures, and all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control of the Indian government. Article 12 defines State by consisting of the following parts of the Constitution-

• The Government and the Parliament of India

• The Government and the Legislature of each State.

• Local Authorities and Other Authorities.

And the essential bodies embodied under Article 12-

• The President of India and Governors of states with executive powers

• Any department of the government like the Income Tax Department.

• Any institution controlled by the government like the International Institute for Population Sciences

• LIC and ONGC which perform tasks similar to governmental or sovereign functions.

• Municipalities, Panchayats, and other similar local authorities with the power to make and enforce rules, regulations, and laws.

• Any other organization which exercises sovereign functions.

• Article 12 does not clear about the definition of Jurisdiction. However, the school of thought is that since the judiciary has the power to make and enforce laws, it should be considered to be a State. However, whereas a false judgment may cause a violation of the fundamental rights of a citizen, obstructive decisions of the Courts are subjected to the tests of Article 14 of the Constitution.

Thus, the simple regulatory power of the government over any statutory or non-statutory body is not enough for it to be deemed as a State. The concerned administrative body must be financially, functionally and administratively and pervasively controlled by the government.

Essential Part of the Indian Constitution

Being a pivotal part of the Constitution of India, it has chastity along with some black marks.

Some members of the Assembly were concerned that the wording of the Article was too vague and some moved amendments. They particularly had trouble with the term ‘other authorities’ which would in effect bring in almost every government agency or officer under the sphere of ‘State’. One member had a complaint regarding while it was fine for fundamental rights to be binding on institutions like district boards and municipalities, to refer to these institutions as the ‘State’ was inappropriate.

In the end, it got clarified that ‘authorities’ would refer persons that had ‘the power to form laws or the power to have discretion vested in it’. Also, in response to members who were against of the use of the term ‘State’, it was argued that it would be burdened to list out the various institutions upon whom fundamental rights were binding; so the term ‘State’ – with its comprehensiveness and economy of words – was useful to adopt throughout the fundamental rights section and therefore the Constitution.

The Assembly adopted the Article with just one amendment: ‘or under the government of India’ was added to the end of the Article 12 to account for those territories which were not part of India but nonetheless under the control of the Indian government.

Aishwarya Says:

I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.

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