THE RECOGNITION OF A COMPANY AS A CITIZEN
When one or more natural person acts as a single entity for legal purposes and has a legal name, the entity gains certain rights, privileges, responsibilities, and liabilities. For e.g. Payment of taxes, to own separate property, right to sue a third party, etc. When an artificial person is incorporated in accordance with the law it acquires a legal/corporate personality which is a pre-requisite to signing any contract, international documents, treaties, etc. Although a company is termed as a legal person, it is not considered as a citizen of the country as per the statutory law of India or provisions of the Citizenship Act, 1951. The reasoning why a corporation should not be considered as a citizen is that citizenship was just available for individuals or natural persons and not to legal entities. The doubt as to whether a business establishment is a citizen was adjudicated by the Supreme Court in the case of State Trading Corporation of India v. Commercial Tax Officer. 14 Since a corporation is not classified as a citizen, it cannot demand the protection of such fundamental rights as are definitively guaranteed to people, but it can ask for the protection of such fundamental rights as are guaranteed to all individuals, whether they are considered as citizens or not. In the well-known case of Tata Engineering Company v. the State of Bihar15 it was decided that since the lawful character of a corporation is all in all different from that of its associates and shareholders, it cannot ask for protection of fundamental rights even though all its members are citizens of India. Even though a company is not termed as a citizen, it possesses a nationality and has a residence in the same nation. In the case of a company's property, it has been held that for the purposes of income tax law, a company exists where its real business is carried on wherein the real business of a company is assumed to be carried on where its central management and control is actually located. Can a corporation be considered as a citizen of India?
• The answer to the above-mentioned question is no. A company cannot be considered as a citizen of India. A company can be considered as an artificial person / legal person / juristic person.
• A corporation is often pointed to as an artificial individual or a legal person since it is registered under India's corporate laws and has a distinct identity separate from the promoters or stakeholders who own it.
• The term artificial person is mostly man-made, through an operation of law.
• A company as a juristic person is eligible for the rights and duties parallel to that of normal persons i.e., humans, with some exclusions to the same.

This Article Does Not Intend To Hurt The Sentiments Of Any Individual Community, Sect, Or Religion Etcetera. This Article Is Based Purely On The Authors Personal Views And Opinions In The Exercise Of The Fundamental Right Guaranteed Under Article 19(1)(A) And Other Related Laws Being Force In India, For The Time Being.