The Hindu : SC to reconsider ruling on strike

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Saturday, Nov 08, 2003

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SC to reconsider ruling on strike

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI NOV. 7. In a significant development, the Supreme Court today decided to reconsider its earlier judgment banning strike by government employees even for a just cause.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice V.N. Khare and Justice S.B. Sinha issued notice on a writ petition filed by the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) after hearing the Attorney-General, Soli Sorabjee, who said that the judgment required a reconsideration.

Senior advocates Ram Jethmalani and Kapil Sibal endorsed the views of Mr. Sorabjee that there could not be a total ban on strike. Senior counsel, S. Ramachandra Rao, appeared for the petitioner.

Mr. Sorabjee said the petition presented a good opportunity to discuss the issue afresh. He said the observations of the Bench in its judgment of August 6 were totally unnecessary in the context of the case and they could be treated only as obiter dicta. He said: "I am not in favour of indiscriminate strikes but at the same time the right to strike to protest against injustice cannot be taken away altogether," he said.

In their petition, the general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh State Council of the AITUC, Potluri Nageswara Rao, and two other office-bearers said the union had given a notice of strike to the Andhra Pradesh Government and it was in this context the present petition was filed.

In its August 6 judgment dealing with dismissal of 1.70 lakh Tamil Nadu Government employees, a Bench of Justice M.B. Shah (since retired) and Justice A.R. Lakshmanan held that government employees did not have legal, fundamental or moral right to go on strike. A review petition filed by the Kerala NGO Association was also dismissed by the same Bench. Hence the notice on the present writ petition assumes significance.

Petitioners contended that in the fast-changing international scenario, democratic rights, including the right of collective protest, was not merely a statutory or constitutional guarantee, it must be construed as a human right guarantee.

They pointed out that workers resorted to strike when all attempts to reach an amicable solution failed. When the workers failed to get a dispute settled, in spite of using every other method, they had no way other than going on strike as this was the only way they could bring pressure on the employers.

They submitted that collective social action could not be stalled in a democracy even if such action was likely to cause inconvenience to the people. It would be a serious attack on the democratic processes in the country.

The petitioners sought a declaration that the right to strike by organised workers, labourers and employees to collectively protest was available subject to normal constitutional limitations and reasonable restrictions under law after declaring the observations of the earlier ruling as obiter dicta.

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