State - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition state

Definition :

State, Board of control for cricket India is not financially, functionally or administratively dominated by government nor it is under control of government. Government only exercises limited contract which is purely regulatory and not pervasive. Board is therefore not state, Zee Telefilms Ltd. v. Union of India, AIR 2005 SC 2677.

In Article 3 of Constitution of India as amended by the fifth Amendment Act 1955. It obviously refers to the States in the First Schedule and the 'Legislature of the State' refers to the Legislature which each State has under the Constitution, Babulal Parate v. State of Bombay, AIR 1960 SC 51: (1960) 1 SCR 605. (Constitution of India, Art. 3)

The political system of a body of people who are politically organized; the system of rules by which jurisdiction and authority are exercised over such a body of people, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1415.

The expression 'the State' has the same meaning in Part IV of the Constitution under Article 36. No reason was shown as to why the enlarged definition of 'State' given in Parts III and IV of the Constitution would be attracted to Article 131 of the Constitution and in our opinion a body like the Hindustan Steel Limited cannot be considered to be 'a State' for the purpose of Article 131 of the Constitution, State of Bihar v. Union of India, AIR 1970 SC 1446: (1970) 2 SCR 522: (1970) 1 SCC 67. (Constitution of India, Art. 131)

Though the definition of 'State' in s. 3(58) of the General Clauses Act, 1897, taking within it Union territories applies to the interpretation of the Constitution, this inclusive definition is repugnant to the subject and context of Art. 246. There, the expression 'State' means the States specified in the First Schedule, T.M. Kanniyan v. ITO, AIR 1968 SC 637: (1968) 2 SCR 103. [General Clauses Act, 1897, s. 3(58)]

The expression 'State' has not been defined in the Constitution, but it has been defined as follows in s. 3(58) of the General Clauses Act (Act X of 1897): 'State': (a) as respects any period before the commencement of the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, shall mean a Part A State, a Part B State or a Part C State; and (b) as respects any period after such commencement, shall mean a State specified in the First Schedule to the Constitution and shall include a Union Territory. This was however not the original definition, for it was substituted by the Adaptation of Laws (No. 1) Order, 1956. Before that order, the expression 'State' meant 'a Part A State, a Part B State or a Part C State'. That definition was, in its turn, brought in by adaptation under Article 372 of the Constitution by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950, for the purpose of bringing the provisions of any law in force in the territory of India in accord with the provisions of the Constitution, Union of India v. Prem Kumar Jain, AIR 1976 SC 1856: (1976) 3 SCC 743: (1976) Supp SCR 166.

The word 'State' in the Article 234 would include a Union territory also, Joginder Nath v. Union of India, AIR 1975 SC 511: (1975) 3 SCC 459: (1975) 2 SCR 553.

Other authorities under the control of the Government of India are comprehensive enough to take care of Part III without unduly stretching the meaning of 'the State' to rope in whatever any autonomous body which has some nexus with government, Som Prakash Rekhi v. Union of India, AIR 1981 SC 212: (1981) 1 SCC 449: (1981) 2 SCR 111.

The word 'State' in Article 131 has also been used in the ordinary sense so as to include only the territory of the State and the permanent institutions contained therein, State of Rajasthan v. Union of India, AIR 1977 SC 1361: (1977) 3 SCC 592: (1978) 1 SCR 1.

State, comprises people, territory, Government through which its policies are implemented and sovereignty having authority to make final legal decisions and having physical power to enforce them, Dictionary of Political Science, Joseph Dunner, 1965, p. 498.

State, is the power or authority represented by a body of people politically organized under one Governor within a territory or territories having definite boundaries, Webster American Judiciary, p. 1424.

Means the State of Maharashtra. [Maharashtra State Council for Occupational Therapy and Physio-therapy Act, 2002, s. 2(4)]

Means the State of Rajasthan. [Rajasthan Agri-cultural Produce Markets Act, 2005, s. 2(o)]