NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has held that the Air Force Group Insurance Society (AFGIS) is a ‘State’ under Article 12 of the Constitution as it performed public duty by protecting and looking after the welfare of armed forces personnel and their family. Article 12 defines ‘State’ for enforcing fundamental rights.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and Vipul M Pancholi overturned the view taken by the Delhi High Court on February 1, 2023, in a pay parity dispute related to the employees of AFGIS.
“In our view, a perusal of the documents extracted makes a case for AFGIS to be considered ‘State’ within the meaning of Article 12. For the aspect of deep and pervasive control, we observe that the President of India granted sanction for AFGIS to be established and also specifically approved the deputation Rules…,” the bench said in its March 12 verdict.
It further said that the principal director of AFGIS had to apprise the assistant chief of air staff every month about the cash flow of the society, which ensures monitoring by a core member of the IAF on its activities. The membership and deductions arising therefrom are a compulsory aspect of serving in the IAF, meaning thereby that there is no choice of the individual officer in that matter and instead is a mandate from the employer.
“When the aspect of administrative control is examined, it is seen that all the members of the Board of Trustees, so also the managing committee, are serving members of the IAF and are deputed to AFGIS for a fixed period. In essence, therefore, the administration of the body is entirely in the hands of government servants even though the body itself is a purportedly private, self-contained society,” the top court said.
Senior advocate Shoeb Alam, representing the employees of AFGIS, had argued that in a letter dated March 15, 2016, AFGIS had represented itself to be ‘Government’ in official correspondence.
He said the day-to-day affairs of AFGIS are managed by serving senior officers of the Indian Air Force, and the land on which the office is situated has been granted by the Ministry of Defence, and it also enjoys exemptions from various taxes levied.
The top court, while restoring the petition of employees seeking sixth pay commission before the Delhi high court, said it is maintainable as AFGIS is ‘State’ under Article 12 of the Constitution.
Top Court says..
“In our view, a perusal of the documents extracted makes a case for AFGIS to be considered ‘State’ within the meaning of Article 12. For the aspect of deep and pervasive control, we observe that the President of India granted sanction for AFGIS to be established…,” the bench said.