ABSTRACT

Topic: A critical note on Banglore Water supply case, i.e., Banglore Water Supply and
Sewerage Board v. A Rajappa.

The attention of the Supreme court has recently been drawn to the definition of the term
“industry” as stated in the industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The uncertainty with regard to the
definition assumes great importance as the machinery for the settlement of industrial disputed
can only be set in motion when there exists a dispute relating to “industry”. However, it tis
next to impossible to classify a dispute as industrial or non-industrial without being certain of
what exactly the term, “industry” encompasses with its scope.

One of the most momentous decision in this regard was Banglore Water Supply and
Sewerage Board v. A Rajappa which overruled numerous other decisions of the Supreme
court but simplified the task for the legislature by placing major issues in the right
perspective, major policy issues being best decided by the legislature and not by the judicial
process. It is the analysis of this very judgement which is the subject of this paper.

Industry involves an employer and employee, and progress postulates harmony and justice in
industrial relations. Whether the system is capitalist or socialist, if friction and break-down
afflict the smooth working of an industry, flames of strike and lock-out will spoil production
and victimize the society which is ultimate beneficiary of the industrial discipline and the
consequent flow of goods ad services.

In this case a seven-judge bench was constituted especially to examine the definition of
“industry” and lay down the law on the subject. The bench was presided over by Justice V R
Krishna Iyer who drafted a new definition of the term industry. Their ruling was a result of
various disputed arising in establishing that are not manufacturing industries but belong to
categories of hospitals, educational and research institutions, Governmental departments,
public utility services, professionals and clubs. The definition was accordingly expanded to
cover those establishments which involved an employer-employee relationship of the
objectives of the organization in question.