By the Court—A learned Judge of this Court has referred the following two questions for decision by a Larger Bench :

“(1) Whether IFFCO can be said to be an “instrumentality” of the State?

(2) Whether IFFCO discharges “Public Functions” because of which it is amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India?"

2. The need to refer these two questions arose because the learned Judge felt that the decision of this Court given on 17.12.1991 in W.P. No. 6143 of 1984 (Shyam Lal v. IFFCO & Ors.), and another decision of this Court given on 26.11.1996 in W.P. No. 34064 of 1996, (IFFCO Employees Union & Ors. v Executive Director & Anr.), on which reliance was placed by the learned Counsel for the respondent Indian Farmers Fertilizers Co-operative Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “IFFCO”) in support of his contention that the said body was not amenable to the writ jurisdiction of the High Court required reconsideration in view of the decision of the Supreme Court in U.P. State Cooperative Land Development Bank Ltd. v. Chandra Bhan Dubey & Ors., (1999) 1 SCC 741 and a Division Bench decision of this Court in Jagveer Singh v. Chairman, Co