Is Imparting Of ‘Education' By Private Educational Institutions A ‘Public Function' And Its Implications

India has seen an exponential growth in the education sector and it holds an important place in the global education market. With 1.3 plus billion population, a market size of US$ 100 billion plus, more than 36,000 higher education institutions contributing 59.7 per cent of the market size, India has one of the largest higher education systems in the world*. With private sector taking a larger share of student enrolments every year, there is a huge potential for private equity participation in the education sector for sustained growth and delivery of quality education. However, this participation has also created unique challenges and one of such challenges is the amenability of educational institutions to the wider writ jurisdiction of the High Courts under Article 226 of the Constitution of India ("COI") in its capacity of being an 'authority'.