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SC agrees to reconsider order banning strikes
Our Correspondent

New Delhi, November 7
The Supreme Court today agreed to have a fresh look on its judgement banning strikes by the government employees and issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking the reconsideration of the order. The notice was issued after the Union Government also made a submission to this effect.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice V.N. Khare and Mr Justice S.B. Sinha sought reply from the Centre to the petition by three office-bearers of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Andhra Pradesh unit, after Attorney-General Soli Sorabjee said the August 6 order of the apex court holding that the government employees “have no moral, equitable and fundamental right to strike”, required reconsideration.

Notice was also issued to the Andhra Pradesh Government, because the AITUC, in a public interest litigation (PIL), said it had given the ultimatum to the state government that the six lakh industrial workers there would go on strike in support of their various demands.

“Indiscriminate strikes are of course bad but it (the judgement) requires reconsideration. There are certain important issues relating to the employees for which they have a right to agitate,” Mr Sorabjee said.

Agreeing with the AITUC contention that the judgement was “obiter dicta (not enforceable under law)”, the Attorney-General suggested that the notice might be issued to the government.

The division Bench was in a dilemma whether a notice could be issued by it as the judgement was also passed by a two-judge Bench, then headed by Mr Justice M.B. Shah, who has since retired.

Before issuing notice, the Chief Justice sought opinions from senior advocates Ram Jethmalani and Kapil Sibal, who were present in the court in connection with some other cases and both of them agreed with the view of Mr Sorabjee.

While Mr Sibal said: "The strike cannot be completely banned", Mr Jethmalani submitted that under the Constitution the workers had a right to protest.

The AITUC's Andhra Pradesh unit general secretary, Mr Potluri Nageshwara Rao, and two other office-bearers — Mr Ajeej Pasha and Mr Sakinala Harinath — in their PIL contended that the employees' right to strike could not be taken away as "strikes are internationally accepted as a part of workers' right of collective bargaining."

"The collective bargaining includes negotiations, talks, mediations, state intervention, arbitration and referring of disputes to tribunals and, if all these fail, then the desperate ultimate option is strike," the petitioners said.