'Industry' – More than Just a Word

The term “industry” which is a part of almost all spheres of contemporary life was firstly defined in independent India in “section 2 (j)of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947” in a manner which was envisaged as inclusive of all the concepts fitting for that era. Now as the present-day India has tremendously progressed by industrial as well as technological revolution, the term “industry” has got versatile and multi-faceted aspects which were not foresighted by the original definition of the term in “section 2 (j) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947”. Over the period the term “industry” has been deciphered by numerous benchmark judgments by the Indian judiciary, but the Constitutional Bench in “Bangalore Water-Supply and Sewerage Board v. R. Rajappa and Others 1978” has surpassed all by its profound and penetrative interpretation which the Government of India adopted as standard, and amended section 2 (j) though “the Industrial Disputes Amendment Act, 1982”. Howsoever till the present-day the amended Act is still not notified; hence the definition of the phrase “industry” goes by the original Act of 1947 only. The present paper aims to view the judicial progression of the term “industry” and attempts to grasp exactly what is meant and implied by it.