A co-operative society registered under the Co-operative Societies Act does not automatically become an authority amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the High Court merely by virtue of its registration. A co-operative bank may acquire the status of an 'authority' within the meaning of Art. 12 of the Constitution if it is borne under or created by a statute, or if it satisfies the essential tests formulated by the Supreme Court for determining whether a co-operative society is an instrumentality or agency of the State.

H. L. AGRAWAL, C. J.

( 1 ) WHEN this writ application was placed before a Division Bench of this Court, it referred the matter to a larger Bench to consider the following two questions :-" (1) Whether the Co-operative Societies registered under a Co-operative Societies Act as such will come within the fold of Art. 12 of the Constitution and are amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the High Court? (In case the answer is in the negative), (2) Whether the Co-operative Society is borne (born?) under any Statute or is discharging any such functions which may make it an 'instrumentality of the State' "? (Second question is recasted)

( 2 ) A few facts may also be noticed : the petitioner was appointed as a Clerk in the Khurda Central Co-operative Bank (for short 'bank') in the year 1958 and in due course was promoted to the post of Accountant in the year 1966. While working as such in the Head Office at Khurda, he was suspended and reverted to the post of Branch Manager, thus imposing a 'major penalty' by the office order of the Bank dated 4-11-1966 (Annexure-2) pending the contemplated departmental enquiry, and in the departmental enquiry, his services were terminated by order dated 10-9-1980 (Annexure-24 ). The petitioner has accordingly filed the writ application for quashing the order of suspension as also the order of termination and for a direction to the Bank opposite party No. 2 to treat him in service all through.

( 3 ) WHEN this application was placed for hearing a question was raised on behalf of the Bank that no writ lay against the Bank as ' it was not 'an authority' within the meaning of Art. 12 of the Constitution. As already stated, this question is troubling the Courts since long. As there has been a continuous development of law and, if I may say so, there is really a 'plethora of decisions' on this subject, and I will refer only to some of them which are more important. Regarding the development of law on the, subject, I may quote the Supreme Court itself Mathew, J. in Sukhadev Singh v. Bhagatram Sardar Singli Raghuvanshi, AIR 1975 SC 1331 made the following observation : -"the concept of State has undergone drastic changes in recent years. Today State cannot be conceived of simply as a coercive machinery wielding the thunderbolt of authority. It has to be viewed mainly as a service corporation. "the following observation was made in Ramana Day dram Shetty v. The International Airport Authority of India, AIR 1979 SC 1628 : -"today the Government, in a welfare State is the regulator and dispenser of special services and provider of a large number of benefits, including jobs, contracts, licences, quotas, mineral rights etc. The Government pours forth wealth, money benefits, services, contracts, quotas and licences. The valuables dispensed by Government take many forms, but they all share one characteristic. They are steadily taking the place of traditional forms of wealth. These valuables which derive from relationships to Government are of many kinds. They comprise social security benefits, cash grants for political sufferers and the whole scheme of State and local welfare. Then again, thousands of people are employed in the State and the Central Government and local authorities. Licences are required before one can engage in many kinds of business or work. The power of giving licences mean power to withhold them and this gives control to the Government on the lives of many people. Many individuals and many more businesses enjoy largesse in the form of Government contracts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All these mean growth in the Government largesse and with the increasing magnitude and rouge of governmental functions as we move closer to a welfare State, more and more of our wealth consists of these new forms. . . . . . . . . . "in Sabhajit Tewary v. Union of India, AIR 1975 SC 1329 the Supreme Court ruled that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research registered under the Societies Registration Act was