Supreme Court of India · 1963-07-26
THE STATE TRADING CORPORATION OF INDIA LTD. & OTHERS vs THE COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER, VISAKHAPATNAM AND OTHERS
- Citation / case number
- SC 1961/197
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Petitioner
- THE STATE TRADING CORPORATION OF INDIA LTD. & OTHERS
- Respondent
- THE COMMERCIAL TAX OFFICER, VISAKHAPATNAM AND OTHERS
- Bench
- SINHA, BHUVNESHWAR P.(CJ),DAS, S.K. & GAJENDRAGADKAR, P.B.,SARKAR, A.K. & WANCHOO, K.N.,HIDAYATULLAH, M. & GUPTA, K.C. DAS,SHAH, J.C. & AYYANGAR, N. RAJAGOPALA
Judgment text excerpt
The Supreme Court held that the State Trading Corporation of India, being a private limited company registered under the Indian Companies Act, 1956, does not qualify as a citizen under Article 19(1)(f) and (g) of the Constitution. The Court clarified that citizenship is limited to natural persons as defined in Part II of the Constitution and the Citizenship Act, 1955, which does not extend to juristic persons. Consequently, the Corporation's petitions under Article 32 for enforcement of fundamental rights were dismissed, affirming that only natural persons can claim such rights.