Judgment

Arijit Pasayat, J.—These appeals are directed against the judgments rendered by a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court. The main judgment was rendered in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 5859 of 1999 which is the subject-matter of challenge in Civil Appeal No. 7965 of 2001. Following the judgment rendered in the said case other writ petitions were disposed of. In each of the writ petitions filed before the High Court correctness of the electricity bills raised by the appellant no.1-Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Board (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Board’) was questioned. The High Court by the impugned judgment held that the Board was as authority under Article 12 of the Constitution of India, 1950 (in short ‘the Constitution’) and similar was the position so far as the writ petitioners are concerned who according to the High Court were Public Sector Undertakings. The High Court held that in cases where the dispute involves the State Government and a Public Sector Undertaking, Committee in the line indicated by this Court in Oil and Natural Gas Commission and Another v. Collector of Central Excise [1992 Supp (2) SCC 432] (for convenience referred to as ONGC-I) should