Judgment

K. JAGANNATHA SHETTY, J.:- Whether the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) is "State" as defined under Art. 12 of the Constitution? This is the only question that calls for decision in this appeal. The appellant was an employee of the NCERT. His services were terminated by the Secretary of NCERT. Challenging the termination he moved the Delhi High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution . The NCERT raised a preliminary objection as to the maintainability of the writ petition. The objection was that the NCERT is not amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the High Court as it is not an instrumentality or other authority within the meaning of Art. 12 of the Constitution. The High Court has upheld the preliminary objection and dismissed the writ petition. The decision of the High Court has been challenged in this appeal.

2. There are only general principles but not exhaustive test to determine whether a body is an instrumentality or agency of the Government. Even in general principles, there s no cut and dried formula which would provide correct division of bodies into those which are instrumentalities or agencies of the Government and those which are