M.S. Liberhan, J. - (1.) THE Petitioner impugned his termination order, dated August 12, 1989, passed by the Hodal Cooperative Credit and Service Society Limited on various grounds which need not be referred in view of the short question raised in this Writ Petition.
(2.) THE short question posed is whether the Hodal Cooperative Credit and Service Society Limited is amenable to writ jurisdiction as being 'other authority' envisaged by Article 12 of the Constitution of India. The Petitioner, in spite of the reply having been filed on February 26, 1990 and a preliminary objection having been raised that no Writ Petition is maintainable as the Society is not 'other authority' envisaged by Article 12 of the Constitution of India, took adjournment after adjournment to show whether the Society fell within the ambit of the State or other authority under Article 12 of the Constitution of India. Nothing has been placed on the record to point out that the Society is either State or other authority fulfilling the concomitants of Article 12 of the Constitution of India. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner submitted that his only grouse was that he was an employee of the Society who had terminated his services, even when the Petitioner had a right to be regularised in terms of Piara Singh's case 1988 (4) S.L.R. 739.
(3.) IN order to determine whether a Cooperative Society is a State or other authority within the parameters of Article 12 of the Constitution of India, some of the tests laid down by the Supreme Court from time to time have become exiomatic, viz., whether the entire share capital of the Society is held by the Government, what is the extent of the financial assistance to the Society to meet its expenditure, how pervasive the State control is or whether the functions being discharged by the Society are State functions etc.;