Every Dispute Of Unaided Private Institution Does Not Ipso Facto Become Amenable To Writ Jurisdiction, Public Law Element Must: J&K&L High Court

The Jammu & Kashmir & Ladakh High Court recently ruled that an unaided private educational institution may qualify to be a "Public authority" amenable to writ jurisdiction of High Court, however, a mandamus will not be issued unless action of such authority complained of falls in the domain of public law as distinguished from private law. Adjudicating upon the matter Justice Dhar observed that it is trite law that a writ of mandamus under Article 226 may be issued even against a private body which is not a state within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India and the High Court can exercise judicial review of the action of such body challenged by a party provided there is public law element. Deliberating further on the subject Justice Sanjeev Kumar noted that there is not even an iota of doubt that unaided private Educational Institutions do perform public duty of imparting education to children and, therefore, amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. "Simply because a private unaided institution is amenable to writ jurisdiction does not mean that every dispute concerning such private institution also becomes ipso facto amenable to writ jurisdiction," the court stated.