SC 9-judge bench to revisit definition of 'industry'

NEW DELHI: A nine-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant will hear on March 17 and 18 the correctness of the expansive definition of 'industry', laid down nearly 50 years ago by a seven-judge bench, bringing universities, hospitals, govt institutions and welfare organisations under the ambit of the Industrial Disputes (ID) Act regulating worker-employer relations.

Petitions have been pending since 2002 and a seven-judge SC bench on Jan 2, 2017, had referred the issue - whether the triple test laid down by Justice Krishna Iyer in the seven-judge bench ruling of 1978 in the Bangalore Water Supply case is correct - to a nine-judge bench.

A bench of the CJI and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi Monday said apart from testing the correctness of the seven-judge bench ruling, the nine-judge bench will also consider the interpretation of 'industry' in Section 2(j) of the ID Act.

Section 2(j) provides that 'industry' means any business, trade, undertaking, manufacture or calling of employers, and includes any calling service, employment, handicraft or industrial occupation or avocation of workmen.

It had laid down the triple test - systematic activity; organised cooperation between employer and employee; and production/distribution of goods and services to satisfy human needs - which virtually included every activity under the ID Act. The court had excluded sovereign functions - defence, law and order - from the ambit of 'industry'.

The bench while asking the counsel to strictly adhere to the hearing schedule, nine hours spread over the two days, said the nine-judge bench will consider what are the state activities which will fall outside the definition of Section 2(j). It said solicitor general Tushar Mehta and other law officers will get four hours while others opposing the Union govt would also get four hours.

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