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The Supreme Court has held that a statutory authority or instrumentality of the State cannot invoke its original jurisdiction under Article 131 of the Constitution, reiterating that the provision is confined to disputes involving the Union of India and one or more constituent States.

A Bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu made the observation while setting aside an Allahabad High Court order that had dismissed a long-pending writ petition filed by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) over a dispute concerning possession of land in Lucknow.

The case arose from a writ petition filed by the LDA before the Allahabad High Court, Lucknow Bench, against the Union of India, the GOC-in-C, Central Command and the Station Commander, Sub-Area, Cantonment, Lucknow. The dispute concerned land on which the LDA had developed a colony and allotted plots and flats to beneficiaries. According to the LDA, officers of the Union Government and defence establishments were interfering with the physical possession of the allottees, claiming that the land belonged to them.

The High Court, after attempts to resolve the dispute between the concerned authorities failed, dismissed the LDA's writ petition in an order dated September 19, 2023. It held that the disputecould not be decided in the writ proceedings and granted liberty to the parties to initiate proceedings under Article 131.

The Supreme Court found this approach legally untenable.

LDA cannot be treated as a State for Article 131

The Court noted that the High Court had fundamentally misconstrued the nature of the dispute. The writ petition had been filed by the LDA and not by the State of Uttar Pradesh.

The Bench emphasised that the LDA is a statutory body constituted under the Uttar Pradesh Urban Planning and Development Act, 1973. Although it is a body corporate and may fall within the definition of "State" under Article 12 of the Constitution, that does not make it a "State" for the purposes of Article 131.

Article 131 confers original jurisdiction on the Supreme Court in disputes between the Government of India and one or more States, or between two or more States. The Court clarified that the expression "States" in Article 131 refers to the constituent States of the Union specified in the First Schedule to the Constitution, and not every authority or instrumentality falling within the wider definition of "State" under Article 12.

Accordingly, the Court held that an authority such as the LDA cannot invoke the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction under Article 131.

"The expression 'States' in Article 131 refers to the constituent States of the Union enlisted in the First Schedule of the Constitution, as distinct from a 'State' defined in Article 12. While the appellant may fall within Article 12 as an instrumentality of the State, it is not a State for the purposes of Article 131. The jurisdiction under clauses (a), (b) and (c) of Article 131 can be invoked only by the States specified in the First Schedule, and not by any authority or instrumentality covered by Article 12. Therefore, on the very terms of Article 131, it is not open to the appellant to approach this Court in its original jurisdiction."

Describing the High Court's approach as a "gross error", the Bench observed that the writ petition had remained pending for nearly two and a half decades and criticised its dismissal on the basis that the dispute was one between the Union and the State.

The writ petition was remitted to the Allahabad High Court for a fresh decision in accordance with law. In view of the considerable time that has elapsed since the petition was instituted, the Supreme Court requested the High Court to decide the matter expeditiously.

Case : Lucknow Development Authority v. Union of India & Ors., Civil Appeal No. 11201 of 2026

Citation : 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 864

Click here to read the judgment


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