The Madras High Court has ordered an interim stay on Tamil Nadu government’s order declaring automotive component manufacturing industry as “public utility service”, describing the decision as arbitrary.
The interim stay order was passed by justice V Parthiban on a petition filed by Pricol Thozhilaler Otrumai Sangam, the labour union of Coimbatore-based auto parts maker Pricol. The petitioner claimed that the government decision had snatched away workers’ right to strike for raising labour issues.
Justice Parthiban said that the order issued by the state government suffered from arbitrariness and non-application of mind. In view of the above, there shall be an order of interim stay of the GO, he added.
The court said that it is prima facie satisfied that the GO declaring auto component manufacturing industry as “public utility service” did not satisfy the requirement as provided under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
The court accepted the labour union’s argument that automobile component industry can be declared a public utility service only if there is public emergency and that the state government GO intended to satisfy interest of certain business.
The court posted the matter to August 29 for next hearing.
The petitioner’s counsel assailed the government order stating that the auto component industry can never be construed as “public utility service” and such declaration did not satisfy the scheme of the Act, particularly section 2(n) that defined public utility service as railways, post and telegraph or water and power supply etc.
A Soundararajan, president, CITU, said, “We welcome the interim stay. The GO and notification are anti-workers that would snatch away the worker’s right to strike. There is no reason for declaring auto component industry as ‘public utility service’. It is totally unjustifiable. The GO should be scrapped immediately.”
In June end, the Tamil Nadu government had declared the component industry as “public utility service” and followed it with a GO in early July to attract more investments as well as help generating more jobs. The auto OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) have been enjoying this status in the state for long.
While the industry had welcomed the move, the trade unions had opposed the move and said that it would kill the freedom of workers who seek to raise labour issues.
Tamil Nadu houses a large number of auto component industries which together account for more than 30% of total auto parts’ export from India. As per Auto Component Manufacturers’ Association (ACMA), the total exports for the fiscal ended March 2019 were at $15.1 billion.