1. In 1976, a Full Bench of this Court in Gopala Pillai v. S.S.I. Corporation (1978 KLT. 347(F. B.) ) held that a "Corporation which has been registered as a company under the Companies Act cannot be regarded as a State for the purpose of Art.12 of the Constitution". Is this decision still good law especially after the subsequent pronouncements of the Supreme Court on the subject? This accounts for the constitution of a larger Bench to dispose of this writ petition.

2. Two of us (Bhaskaran, Ag. C. J. & Bhaskaran Nambiar, J.) had occasion to consider this aspect in a recent decision in Sofhi v. F. A.C.T. 0984 KLT. 32) when the question was raised whether F. A. C. T. (Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd.), a registered company, is a State amenable to the writ jurisdiction of this Court. Surveying the decisions of the Supreme Court beginning with Rajasthan Electricity Board's case in 1967 and ending with Ajay Hasia's case in 1981 and applying the principles stated therein, it was held that F.A.C.T. is a State, subject to the writ discipline of this Court;

3. Art.12 of the Constitution, defining "State" for the purposes of Part III reads thus:

"In this part, unless the co