NEW DELHI: A nine-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant will hear on March 17-18 on the correctness of a broad definition of “industrial”, which was framed by a seven-judge bench nearly 50 years ago to bring universities, hospitals, government agencies and welfare organizations under the ambit of the Industrial Disputes (ID) Act that regulates relations between workers and employers.The petition has been pending since 2002 and on January 2, 2017, the seven-judge Supreme Court bench had referred the issue – whether the triple test laid down by Justice Krishna Iyer in the seven-judge bench verdict in the 1978 Bangalore Water Supply case was correct – to a nine-judge bench.A bench of CJI, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M Pancholi on Monday said that besides testing the correctness of the seven-judge bench’s ruling, the nine-judge bench will also consider the interpretation of “industry” in Section 2(j) of the Identity Card Act.Section 2(j) provides that “industry” means any business, trade, undertaking, manufacture or calling of the employer and includes any calling service, employment, craft or industrial occupation or side occupation of the worker.It lays down a triple test – systematic activity; organization of cooperation between employer and employee; production/distribution of goods and services to satisfy human needs – which actually includes every activity under the Identity Card Act. The court excluded sovereign functions – defence, law and order – from the ambit of “industry”.The bench asked the lawyers to strictly adhere to the hearing schedule (nine hours over two days) and said the nine-judge bench will consider which state activities do not fall within the definition of Section 2(j). It was said that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and other law enforcement officers will get four hours of jail time, while others who opposed the Union government will also get four hours of jail time.
