HC closes petition by labour outfit

Madras High Court today closed a petition by a labour outfit, seeking a direction to Labour and Employment Department Secretary and to TCS here to implement the labour welfare legislation to the IT sector, in particular to the company and to direct authorities to pass appropriate orders on their January 21 representation.
The First Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M M Sundresh closed the petition filed by the IT wing of Puthiya Jananaayaga Thozhilalar Munnani when it came up for hearing, rejecting the references made by their counsel on two Supreme Court judgments.
"The case referred by the counsel is one dealt with poor, illiterate and ignorant class of persons who needed protection, while the other one deals with children who are stated to be employed in factories due to their poverty.

"Thus in our view, those two judgments would not have application to the facts in the case, which deal with educated employees of the IT Centre," the judges said.
To a query by the bench on why counsel had not approached the court if he felt the Industrial Disputes Act applies to his clients, he said a representation had already been made to the authorities on January 21, but no action had been taken so far.
The bench then said that in their view, the primary question would have to be decided by the competent authority, whether the IT Industry would be covered by the Act or not, which could only be if the parties concerned approach it under the provisions of the said Act.

"Further if it is not covered, whether it is required to be covered on account of interest of the workmen would be a policy decision to be taken by the Government, which may require legislative changes," it said.
The bench said that in either of the two situations, it would not be appropriate to entertain a PIL which, from its bare reading, was purely a dispute between the employees and the employer relating to TCS.
The bench then closed the writ proceedings, saying it was leaving it to the authorities concerned to take action expeditiously on the petitioner's representation in accordance with law.