'Industry' Definition Reference : Live Updates From Supreme Court 9-Judge Bench Hearing
LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK
17 March 2026 10:20 AM IST
A 9-judge bench of the Supreme Court will hear today the reference on the correctness of the definition of “industry” given by then Justice VR Krishna Iyer in the 1978 decision in Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board v. A. Rajappa.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justices BV Nagarathna, PS Narasimha, Dipankar Datta, Ujjal Bhuyan, Satish Chandra Sharma, Joymalya Bagchi, Alok Aradhe and Vipul M. Pancholi is hearing the matter.
In the Bangalore Water Supply case, a seven-judge bench had laid down a sweeping interpretation of the term “industry” under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Court held that any systematic activity organised by cooperation between employer and employee for the production or distribution of goods and services could fall within the definition of industry, even if the organisation was not engaged in profit making.
The correctness of this decision was doubted in a 2002 appeal. The matter was ultimately referred to a 9-judge bench in 2017, since the Bangalore Water Supply case was rendered by a 9-judge bench.
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Live Updates
- 17 March 2026 2:42 PM IST
CJ: within the head of g2, you have summed that sovereign functions can't be put into a stated formula.
AG: I thought we will put the sovereign function debate in distinct legal domains like civil wrongs, consumer etc...I think city of nagpure is incorrectly affirmed
J Nagarathna: then only remedy is by way of suit
- 17 March 2026 2:38 PM IST
AG: so to take charge of the period within 1978 to 2025, i think it will be important to keep all of them as a corpus of principles
J Nagarathna: so according to you sovereign functions must be narrowly interpreted?
AG: it requires an ambivalent understanding. the bangalore water seems to have some kind of a show on many of these considerations
- 17 March 2026 2:38 PM IST
CJ: particularly under the head of consideration of soverign function in industrial law, I think that it explains your view point.
AG: if more than 1959s the courts are trying to courageously find out the meaning and it is in this context of the new law can throw some light for adjudication
- 17 March 2026 2:37 PM IST
AG: on sovereign funtions, i have some submission to make- in civil wrongs liability, we don't get into that because that happens in an entirely different domain. it may or not definitely throw a light on sovereign functions in the context of what i call mandated activitiy undertaken for public welfare