JUDGMENT :

Amrita Sinha, J.

The petitioner is a private Company engaged in the business of processing and packaging of milk and other dairy products under the brand name of Hillman. The respondent no. 1 is a Cooperative Society who invited Expression of Interest for empanelment of dairy plants for packaging and marketing. The petitioner submitted its proposal in response to the said invitation but its proposal was not accepted.

2. Being aggrieved by the same the petitioner filed the present writ petition challenging the action of the respondent no. 1 in rejecting the proposal filed by the petitioner and in turn accepting the proposal of the private respondent.

3. The respondent no. 1 raises an issue of maintainability of the writ petition against the respondent no. 1. It has been submitted that the respondent no. 1 is a private Cooperative Society which cannot be termed and treated as ‘State’ under Article 12 of the Constitution of India. The government does not have any control or supervision in the activities of the Cooperative Society and, accordingly, the Society is not amenable to the writ jurisdiction of this Court. The State government is not at all involved in the decision maki