Foreign entity not amenable to its writ jurisdiction under the Constitution: Delhi High Court

Foreign entity not amenable to its writ jurisdiction under the Constitution: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court dismissed an appeal against a single judge's order refusing to entertain allegations of racial discrimination and harassment by a foreign news challenge on the grounds that a foreign entity is not amenable to its writ jurisdiction under the Constitution.

The bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma stated that the entity was constituted by an Act of Parliament of France, therefore cannot be stated as a 'State' under the Indian law.

The present appeal was filed by an aggrieved employee of a foreign news agency, who was allegedly harassed from the internal working of the said news agency and the complaint against the agency is not in course of its performance as a news agency. On this ground, it was further observed that writs are issued for the performance of public duties, therefore a complaint of harassment on the internal workings of the agency will not be covered under the purview.

The bench further observed that the said complaint was not amenable to the writ jurisdiction as there is an employee-employer relations, which by no means can be termed as a public function.

As a result, the Court was inclined to impose costs of Rs. 50,000 on the appellant for wastage of precious judicial time owing to the frivolous petition and appeal.