Air India Limited (AIL) ceased to be State or its instrumentality under Article 12 of the Constitution after its takeover by the Tatas in January 2022, and no case of alleged violation of fundamental right would lie against it, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The apex court dismissed the appeals filed against a September 20, 2022 verdict of the Bombay High Court which had disposed of four writ petitions instituted by some employees of AIL over alleged stagnation in pay and non-promotion and delay in payment of wage revision arrears, among others.

The top court noted that the petitions before the high court had claimed violation of Articles 14 (equality before law), 16 (equality of opportunity in matters of public employment), and 21 (protection of life and personal liberty).

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta noted that the high court had disposed of the pleas on the ground of non-maintainability of the writ petitions owing to the privatisation of AI.

It said there was no dispute that the GoI, having transferred its 100 per cent share
to Talace India Pvt Ltd, ceased to have any administrative control over the private entity and hence, “the company after its disinvestment could not have been treated to be a State anymore after having been taken over by the private company”.

“Thus, the respondent no.3 (AI) after its disinvestment ceased to be a State or its instrumentality within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India,” it said.

The bench said once AIL ceased to be covered by the definition of State within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution, it could not have been subjected to the court’s writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution.