The Supreme Court of India has commenced a nine-judge Constitution bench hearing on the contentious issue of defining the word 'industry' under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha, Dipankar Datta, Ujjal Bhuyan, Satish Chandra Sharma, Joymalya Bagchi, Alok Aradhe, and Vipul M Pancholi, is examining the definition of 'industry' in the context of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
The court is considering whether the test laid down in the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board's case to determine if an undertaking or enterprise falls within the definition of 'industry' lays down correct law.
The bench is also examining whether the Industrial Disputes Act, 1982, and the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, have any legal impact on the interpretation of the expression 'industry' as contained in the principal Act.
The matter has a long history, with a five-judge bench referring it to a larger bench in 2005 and a seven-judge Constitution bench in 2017 deciding to place the appeals before a nine-judge bench due to the serious and wide-ranging implications of the issue.
