Case study report on SC judgement on TN Govt.

Staff Strike Ayodhya Paikaray

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Supreme Court Judgement in The Case of Tamil Nadu Govt. Staff Strike
The Indian Supreme Court ruled in August that there is no fundamental right to go on strike. The
Indian Supreme Court made this declaration as a result of a writ petition brought by public sector
employees of the Tamil Nadu State Government who had been dismissed for launching a statewide
strike.
The strike itself was the product of resistance by government workers to the erosion of pensions
and other rights by the AIADMK state government. Workers lost benefits worth between 90,000
rupees and 125,000 rupees as a result of cutbacks over the past two years, provoking a series of
strikes and protests.
The strike was started on 2nd July 2003 by Unions affiliated to INTUC, CITU, AITUC, HMS, LPF. An
estimated 90 percent of the public sector workforce, or more than a million workers, stopped work
on July 2. Clearly shaken by the turnout, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa rammed through an emergency
amendment to the ESMA on July 4 providing her with retrospective powers to dismiss strikers and
to impose substantial fines and jail terms on anyone found guilty of striking or instigating a strike.
Over the next few days, almost 200,000 workers were summarily sacked in the largest mass
dismissal in Indian history. Workers not only lost their jobs but, in many cases their housing as well.
To fill the positions, Jayalalithaa began to hire thousands of strikebreakers on short-term contracts-
many with close affiliations to the ruling AIADMK. At the same time, police continued to make
arrests.
On July 11, the Tamil Nadu High Court dismissed legal petitions to overturn the sackings on the
grounds that the workers had not sought reinstatement through the State Administrative Tribunal -
a body consisting of one judge already inundated with cases. The High Court agreed to only one
point of the petitions: the release of those who had been arrested.
With the strike ended and no broad campaign against the sackings, the Indian Supreme Court
seized on the opportunity to establish a far-reaching precedent. On July 24, a panel of two judges
declared that employees did not have any fundamental right to strike and that such illegal strikes
had to be dealt with firmly by the authorities. It suggested, but did not order, that the state
government reinstate the sacked workers, provided that they offered an unconditional apology.
Case study report on SC judgement on TN Govt. Staff Strike Ayodhya Paikaray


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Following the reinstatement of some 165,000 workers, the Supreme Court brought down its final
judgment on August 6 which dismissed the challenge to the ESMA law and declared that employees
had no fundamental, legal, moral or equitable right to strike.
In a 21-page ruling thoroughly permeated with hostility to the working class, the judges declared:
No political party or organisation can claim a right to paralyse the economic and industrial
activities of a state or nation or inconvenience citizens.
After stating that strike action was mostly misused, they suggested that, for redressing
grievances, employees should do more work honestly, diligently and efficiently to impress
their employer.
The Tamil Nadu government immediately took the Supreme Court ruling as a green light to
intensify its offensive.
On August 12, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa began steps to deregister 26 major trade unions and
another 200 affiliated unions. Recognition of the JACTO and COTA federations was withdrawn.
More than 6,000 dismissed workers accused of violence and instigating others to strike have not
been reinstated and are to be dragged before a panel of three retired judges from the Madras High
Court.
Rights and freedoms
The Courts have also relied on the principle that each persons fundamental rights cannot be
exercised in a manner that unduly interferes with the rights and freedoms of other citizens.
In 1998 the Kerala High Court observed as follows:
There cannot be any doubt that the fundamental rights of the people as a whole cannot be
subservient to the claim of fundamental right of an individual or only a section for the people.
The Kerala High Court went on to say: No political party or organization can claim that it is entitled
to paralyze the industry and commerce in the entire State or nation.
In Tamil Nadu, the Government Servants Rules of 1973 expressly prohibited government servants
in the State from engaging in strikes or inciting others to do so.