Article 12 under the Indian Constitution

According to Article 12 of the Constitution of India, the term ‘State’ denotes

the union and state governments, the Parliament and state legislatures, and
all local or other authorities within the territory of India or under the control
of the Indian government. Article 12 defines State by consisting of the
following parts of the Constitution-

• The Government and the Parliament of India

• The Government and the Legislature of each State.

• Local Authorities and Other Authorities.

And the essential bodies embodied under Article 12-

• The President of India and Governors of states with executive powers

• Any department of the government like the Income Tax Department.

• Any institution controlled by the government like the International Institute

for Population Sciences

• LIC and ONGC which perform tasks similar to governmental or sovereign

functions.

• Municipalities, Panchayats, and other similar local authorities with the

power to make and enforce rules, regulations, and laws.

• Any other organization which exercises sovereign functions.

• Article 12 does not clear about the definition of Jurisdiction. However, the
school of thought is that since the judiciary has the power to make and
enforce laws, it should be considered to be a State. However, whereas a false
judgment may cause a violation of the fundamental rights of a citizen,
obstructive decisions of the Courts are subjected to the tests of Article 14 of
the Constitution.

Thus, the simple regulatory power of the government over any statutory or
non-statutory body is not enough for it to be deemed as a State. The
concerned administrative body has to be financially, functionally and
administratively and pervasively controlled by the government.
Essential Part of the Indian Constitution
Being a pivotal part of the Constitution of India, it has chastity along with
some black marks.

Some members of the Assembly were concerned that the wording of the
Article was too vague and some moved amendments. They particularly had
trouble with the term ‘other authorities’ which would in effect bring in almost
every government agency or officer under the sphere of ‘State’. One member
had a complaint regarding while it was fine for fundamental rights to be
binding on institutions like district boards and municipalities, to refer to these
institutions as the ‘State’ was inappropriate.

In the end, it got clarified that ‘authorities’ would refer persons that had ‘the
power to form laws or the power to have discretion vested in it’. Also, in
response to members who were against of the use of the term ‘State’, it was
argued that it would be burdened to list out the various institutions upon
whom fundamental rights were binding; so the term ‘State’ – with its
comprehensiveness and economy of words – was useful to adopt throughout
the fundamental rights section and therefore the Constitution.

The Assembly adopted the Article with just one amendment: ‘or under the
government of India’ was added to the end of the Article 12 to account for
those territories which were not part of India but nonetheless under the
control of the Indian government.