Suneet Kumar, J.

1. The matter came to be referred to the Larger Bench by the learned Single Judge on being confronted with the judgment rendered by the Supreme Court in Ramesh Ahluwalia vs. State of Punjab and others, 2012 (12) SCC 331 (Ramesh Ahluwalia case), wherein, the Court held that a private educational body performing public duty or discharging public function would be amenable to the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, consequently, in the opinion of the referring Court, the Full Bench judgment of this Court in M.K. Gandhi and others v. Director of Education (Secondary) U.P. and others, 2006(62) ALR 27 (M.K. Gandhi case) and Division Bench decision rendered in Anjani Kumar Srivastava Vs State of U.P. and others, 2017 (7) ADJ 112 (DB) (Anjani Kumar Srivastava case) needs to be revisited. Relevant portion of the referring order reads thus:

“In my opinion, since the judgment of Ramesh Ahluwalia (supra) clearly stipulates that even a purely private body where the State has no control over its internal affairs would be amenable to the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution if it discharges a publi