CAN A JURISTIC PERSON BE A CITIZEN OF INDIA?
CAN A JURISTIC PERSON BE A CITIZEN OF INDIA?
In Jurisprudence, it is expressly stated that there are two kinds of
person recognized by law and they are natural person and juristic
person. Therefor it can be said that person is genus while natural person
and juristic persons are its species.
Person-
v Meaning-
The word ‘Person’ has been derived from the Latin word
‘persona’. This term has a long history. At the beginning, the word persona
simply used mean a mask. Later on, persona was used to denote the
part played by a man in his life. Next to that, the very word was used to
denote the man who played the part. Later, in Roman Law, the term became
synonymous with the term caput. A slave had an imperfect persona.
Lastly, the term was used in the sense of a being who is capable of sustaining
rights and duties.
v
Definition-
Many definitions of the term ‘person’ have been given
by various jurists and writers, for example-
Salmond has stated that a person is any being whom the law regards as capable
of rights and duties. Any being that is so capable is a person, whether a human
being or not and no being that is not so capable is a person, even though he is
a man.
According to German Writers, will is the
essence of a personality. A legal person is one who is capable of will.
Zitelmann has stated in this regard that Personality is the legal capacity of
will. The bodiliness of men is for their personality a wholly irrelevant
attribute.
v Concept-
A person is not necessarily a human being. There may
be human beings who are not persons in the eye of law. For example, slaves were
not persons in the legal sense as they did not have rights. Similarly, there
may be persons who are not human brings; for example- a Corporation. According
to Hindu Law, idols are legal persons. Although they have a personality in the
eye of law, they are not human beings.
The term ‘person’ is not defined in the Indian
Constitution. But Article 367 of the Constitution provides that the definitions
contained in the General Clauses Act, 1897 apply for the interpretation of the
Constitution. It s to be noted that the definition of ‘person’ as provided
under Section 3(42), General Clauses Act is undoubtedly illustrative and not
exhaustive.
Definition of Juristic Person-
Legal or Juristic persons are real or imaginary beings to whom
personality is attributed by law by way of fiction where it does not exist in
fact. Juristic persons are also defined as those things, mass of property,
group of human beings or an institution upon whom the law has conferred a legal
status and who in the eye of law capable of having rights and duties as natural
persons.
Creation of Juristic Person involves the case of double fiction. By one
fiction, the juristic person is created or made an entity. By second fiction,
it is clothed with will of a living being. Therefore, Juristic Person comes into
existence when there is in existence a thing, a mass of property, an
institution or a group of persons and the law attributes to them the character
of a person. This may be done as a result of an act of the sovereign or by a
general rule prescribed by the Government.
CAN A JURISTIC PERSON BE A CITIZEN OF INDIA?
The question whether Juristic Person can be treated as a citizen of
India or not can be answered by discussing the landmark case State
Trading Corporation v. Commercial Tax Officer[1]
and the Bank Nationalization case[2].
State Trading Corporation v. Commercial Tax Officer Case-
The State Trading Corporation was a Government Company registered under
the Companies Act, 1956. It consisted of President of India and the Secretary
to the Ministry of Commerce as its shareholders and enjoy the status of a
private limited company. In this case, answering in negative, the Supreme Court
held that the Indian Constitution does not define the term ‘Citizenship’. Part
II of the Constitution dealt with Citizenship in certain
circumstances only, but the tenor of these provisions was such that they could
not apply to the juristic person like a company or corporation,
The Citizenship Act, 1955 expressly excludes a company,
association or body of individuals, whether incorporated or not, from the
concept of a person under the Act. Thus, only a natural person can be citizen
of India under the Constitution as well as under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
In this case, the Supreme Court distinguished between citizenship and
nationality and stated that a company or corporation might have nationality,
which is determined by the place of its corporation, but it does not have
citizenship.
Bank Nationalization Case-
In the famous Bank Nationalization Case or R.C.
Cooper v. Union of India, 1970, the Supreme Court clarified that the
Fundamental Rights of the shareholders of citizens were not lost when all of
them joined together to form a company. The petitioners in this case argued
that the policy of nationalization of banks had adversely affected the
fundamental rights conferred upon the individuals by the provisions of Article
19(1)(f) and the Article 31(2) of the Indian Constitution.
The Court allowed the petition and observed that when rights of the company and
shareholders were involved, they cannot be denied grant of relief as to their
fundamental rights but it should not be misinterpreted to mean the company may
be treated as a citizen.
Do you want to know about the difference between Natural Person and
Juristic Person? If so, then please check out this link.
References:
Websites-
·
iPleaders Blog ( https://blog.ipleaders.in/ )
·
Legal Service India (
https://www.legalserviceindia.com/ )
·
Indian Kanoon ( https://indiankanoon.org/ )
Books-
·
‘Jurisprudence
& Legal Theory’ by V. D. Mahajan.
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