Changing Concept of Industry under Industrial Disputes Act

Industrial Disputes Act K K Chaudhuri The question 'what is an 'industry?' has continuously baffled the courts ever since the enactment of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Though the Act provides a definition of 'industry' in Section 2(j), the definition is not very precise and has defied consistent interpretation. As a result, judicial effort has been directed at evolving tests by reference to characteristics regarded as essential for regarding an activity as an 'industry'' The cases decided by the courts, however, show that these tests have not been uniform. The courts have been guided by an empirical rather than a strictly analytical approach : sometimes the tests have been liberally conceived, at other times narrowly.