In Brief
The Supreme Court held that Ramakrishna Mission Hospital at Itanagar is not an 'authority' amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution. Although the hospital receives partial government grants covering 60 of its 263 beds and was allotted land at concessional rates, these factors alone do not render a private charitable entity a public authority. The Court held that a private body must discharge functions similar to those performed by the State in its sovereign capacity to be amenable to writ jurisdiction. Since the hospital is run voluntarily without state control and contracts of service are purely private, writ jurisdiction does not lie. Mere regulation by statute does not convert a private body into a statutory body. The appeal was allowed and the High Court's judgment was set aside."
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