‘Labour Versus Industry’-Justice in Progression

The story of industrial revolution in India has been also the fact sheet of labour versus industry and the consequent relationship. The prevalent inequalities of the colonial era continued in different shade with biased labour legislation drafted by British Empire to reign over the poor and illiterate labour force. Soon India realized the law that need be interpreted with the social justice vigor propounded in the constitution. It took little time before the litigations to reach to the apex court seeking a categorical legal philosophy in matters relating to industrial disputes. A liberal industrial jurisprudence got evolved with pro-labour welfare tilt. A series of case law reflected the element of social justice and in the process it was found that the industry started to suffer a set back. Globalization brought in a new thrust to a regime of internationally competitive industrial process. Quality, global best practices, state of art technology, skill, performance and production became the buzz word of the time. Economic losses in terms of labour resources are calculated as colossal. Giving priority to economic policy of the nation, the judiciary changed the stance and adjudicated over a mass of litigation abreast to global changes. This paper attempts to depict the march of case law to reflect the contrast of the time, policy and decision making process.