Supreme Court: Statutory body cannot invoke Article 131 jurisdiction

The case concerns a dispute where the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) claimed that Union of India and defence officers were interfering with the possession of plots allotted by LDA, and the Supreme Court reviewed the High Court's dismissal of LDA's writ petition on the grounds that it was a Centre-State dispute.

Who it concerns: Petitioner/Appellant: Lucknow Development Authority; Respondents: Union of India, GOC-in-C Central Command, Station Commander Cantonment Lucknow, Swarg Ashram Shakari Awas Samiti Limited, and State of Uttar Pradesh; Bench: Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu.

What the court decided

• Supreme Court held that the High Court erred in characterizing the dispute as one between the State of Uttar Pradesh and the Union of India, noting that LDA is a statutory body and not a 'State' under Article 131.
• The impugned High Court order dated 19th September, 2023, was set aside.
• The civil appeal was allowed.
• The writ petition was remitted to the High Court for a fresh decision.
• The High Court was requested to decide the matter expeditiously.

Also in the document

• The Supreme Court noted that the writ petition had been pending for nearly two and a half decades.
• The Court clarified that a statutory authority or instrumentality of the State (under Article 12) cannot invoke the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article 131, which is confined to disputes between the Government of India and constituent States listed in the First Schedule.