Writ Not Maintainable as Private Commercial Bank Is Not ‘State’ Under Article 12: Kerala HC

Authorised Officer Vs Sheela Francis Parakkal (Kerala High Court) The Kerala High Court allowed an intra-court writ appeal and held that writ jurisdiction under Article 226 cannot be invoked against a private commercial bank, as such banks are not “State” or an instrumentality of the State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution. The appeal challenged a Single Judge’s order that had entertained a writ petition against a private bank, declared that the bank had no authority to retain original title deeds after closure of a loan account, declined a direction to release the doc...