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From this perspective, the logical sequitur is that it really does not matter what guise the State adopts for this purpose, whether by a Corporation established by statute or incorporated under a law such as the Companies Act or formed under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. Neither the form of the Corporation, nor its ostensible autonomy would take away from its character as 'State' and its constitutional accountability under Part III vis-a-vis the individual if it were in fact acting as an instrumentality or agency of Government.

In dealing with Sabhajit Tewary the Court in Ajay Hasia noted that since Sabhajit Tewary was a decision given by a Bench of Five Judges of this Court it was undoubtedly binding. The Court read Sabhajit Tewary as implicity assenting to the proposition that CSIR could have been an instrumentality of agency of the Government even though it was a Registered Society and limited the decision to the facts of the case. It held that the Court in Sabhajit Tewari :

" did not rest its conclusion on the ground that the council was a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, but proceeded to consider various other features of the council for arriving at the conclusion that it was not an agency of the government and therefore not an 'authority'".
"This Assembly recommends to the Governor General in Council that a fund called the Industrial Research Fund be constituted, for the purpose of fostering industrial development in this country and that provision be made in the Budget for an annual grant of rupees ten lakhs to the fund for a period of five years."

For the purpose of coordinating and exercising administrative control over the working of the two research bodies already set up by the Department of Commerce, and to oversee the proper utilisation of the Industrial Research Fund, by a further resolution dated 26th September 1942, the Government of India decided to set up a Council of Industrial Research on a permanent footing which would be a registered society under the Registration of Societies Act, 1860. Pursuant to the resolution, on 12th March, 1942 the CSIR was duly registered. Bye-laws and Rules were framed by the Governing Body of the Society in 1942 which have been subsequently revised and amended. Unquestionably this shows that the CSIR was 'created' by the Government to carry on in an organized manner what was being done earlier by the Department of Commerce of the Central Government. In fact the two research bodies which were part of the Department of Commerce have since been subsumed in the CSIR.

As far as expenditure is concerned, under Bye-law (1) as it stands at present, the budget estimates of the Society are to be prepared by the Governing Body 'keeping in view the instructions issued by the Government of India from time to time in this regard'. Apart from an internal audit, the accounts of the CSIR are required to be audited by the Controller and Auditor General and placed before the table of both Houses of Parliament(Rule 69).

In the event of dissolution, unlike other registered societies which are governed by Section 14 of the Societies Registration Act, 1860, the members of CSIR have no say in the distribution of its assets and under clause (5) of the Memorandum of Association of CSIR, on the winding up or dissolution of CSIR any property remaining after payment of all debts shall have to be dealt with "in such manner as the Government of India may determine". CSIR is therefore both historically and in its present operation subject to the financial control of the Government of India. The assets and funds of CSIR though nominally owned by the Society are in the ultimate analysis owned by the Government. From whichever perspective the facts are considered there can be no doubt that the conclusion reached in Sabhajit Tewary was erroneous. If the decision of Sabhajit Tewary had sought to lay down as a legal principle that a society registered under the Societies Act or a company incorporated under the Companies Act is, by that reason alone, excluded from the concept of State under Article 12, it is a principle which has long since been discredited. "Judges have made worthy, if shamefaced, efforts, while giving lip service to the rule, to riddle it with exceptions and by distinctions reduce it to a shadow".