Holding

A writ of mandamus cannot be issued where the statute confers discretionary power on the Government to decide the commencement of a provision without any objective standard.

Summary

Shree Gajanan Maharaj Sansthan, a charitable trust, filed a writ petition under Article 32 seeking a mandamus directing the Union of India to fix a date for bringing Section 2(c) of the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1982 into force, which would exclude charitable organisations from the definition of "industry". The High Court issued the mandamus, but the Government argued that it could not implement the amendment without an alternative grievance mechanism for employees of such organisations. On appeal, the Supreme Court held that when a statute leaves the discretion of bringing a provision into force to the executive without any objective standard, a writ of mandamus cannot be issued. Consequently, the part of the High Court order directing the Government to fix a date was set aside, while the remainder of the order was upheld. The appeal was partly allowed, the connected appeal dismissed, and the writ petition dismissed.

Issues considered

When can a writ of mandamus be issued to compel the Government to fix a commencement date for a statutory provision?
Does the discretion vested in the executive to bring a provision into force, without objective criteria, render it amenable to judicial mandamus?
Whether the delay in notifying the amendment excluding charitable organisations violates constitutional or legislative intent.

Legislation cited

Constitution of Indias. 226, s. 32
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947s. 2(j)

Subjects

writ of mandamusexecutive discretioncommencement of legislationIndustrial Disputes Actdefinition of industrycharitable organisationsadministrative lawconstitutional lawArticle 32Article 226

Judgment

A UNION OF INDIA
v.
SHREE GAJANAN MAHARAJ SANSTHAN

APRIL 29, 2002

B (S. RAJENDRA BABU AND RUMA PAL, JJ.]

Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1982-Section 2(c)-Writ petition
seeking enforcement of the provision-Writ of mandamus issued by High Court
c to take action for enforcement and to indicate the date therefor-On appeal-
Held, in the circumstances of the case issuance of writ not justified-When
enforcement of a provision left to the discretion of Government, no such writ
could be issued-Industrial Disputes Act, 1947-Section 2(j)-Constitution of
India, 1950-Articf.es 226 and 32.

D Respondent a Charitable Organisation filed a writ petition before
........
High Court seeking writ of mandamus against Government to notify the
date for bringing Section 2(c) oflndustrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1982
~
into force, by which, definition of the term 'industry' was amended to the .
effect excluding 'charitable organisations' therefrom. .
E High Court issued writ of mandamus to Government to take action
and to indicate a date for bringing into force the provision of the Amending
Act. However, it was of the view that Government before notifying the date
for bringing the provisions of the amending act into force, would have to
examine the attending circumstances and such a power would not empower
F the Government to decide whether to bring a particular provision into force
or not. ;..

In appeal to this Court, appellant-Government filed an affidavit 1\--
stating therein that inspite of several attempts the amended Section could
not be brought into effect in the absence of alternative grievance machinery
G for employees in the 'charitable organisations' who would have been denied
the protection of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

The connected appeal and writ petitions were of identical nature. >
~

Partly allowing Civil Appeal No. 2727 of 1998 and dismissing the '
H 600 ~
U.0.1. v. GAJANAN MAHARAJ SANSTHAN 601

connected appeal and Writ Petition, the Court A

HELD : I. When enforcement of a provision in a statute is left to the
discretion of the Government without laying down any objective standards
no writ of mandamus could be issued directing the Government to consider
the question whether the provision should be brought into force and when B
it can do so. Delay in implementing the will of the parliament may draw
adverse criticism but in view of the facts of the case, it cannot be said that
the Government is not alive to the problem or is desirous of ignoring the
will of the Parliament. 1607-B, CJ

Aeltamesh Rein v. Union of India and Ors., 11988] 4 SCC 54 and A.K. C
Roy v. Union of India and Ors., 1198211 SCC 271, relied on.

In re the Delhi Laws Act, 1912, the Ajmet-Merwara (Extension of Laws)
Act, 1947 and the Part C States (Laws) Act, 1950, 1951 SCR 747; Rajnarain
Singh v. The Chairman, Patna Administration Com1nittee, Patna and Anr.,
11955] I SCR 290; Hamdard Dawakhana, (Wakj) Lal Kuan, Delhi and Anr. D
v. Union ofIndia and Ors., 1196012 SCR 671; Suman Gupta and Ors. v, State
of J & Kand Ors., 119831 4 SCC 339; Consumer Action Group and Anr. v.
State of T.N. and Ors., 120001 7 SCC 425; Agricultural Produce Market
Committee v. Ashok Harikuni and Anr., 120001 8 SCC 61 and Bangalore Water
Supply & Severage Boardv. A. Rajappa and Ors., 1197812 sec 218, referred E
to.

2. In the circumstances set out in the affidavit filed on behalf of the
Government, it would not be feasible for Government to set out any definite
day as to when they can take action and, therefore, the order made by the
High Court car.not be given effect to at all. Though there has been a .sense F
of urgency on the part of the Government in this regard, it has not :ieen
able to take a decision in the circumstances set forth in the affidavit. Hence,
while noticing that appropriate action has to be taken by the Government
to bring into effect the Amending Act, various circumstances which come
in the way of the Government to give effect to the Amending Act G
immediately are also taken note of. That part of the order of the High Court
by which writ of mandamus has been issued to the Government to take
action and to indicate as to when it would be feasible to appoint a date for
bringing into force the Amending Act stands deleted. In other respects, the
order made by the High Court is maintJined. 1607-D-FI
H
602 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] 3 S.C.R.

A CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 2727 of
1998.

From the Judgment and Order dated 7 .8.1996 of the Mumbai High
Court in W.P. No. 2476 of 1984.

B WITH

C.A. No. 5393/98 and W.P.(C) No. 632 of 2000.

T.L. V. Iyer, H.W. Dhabe, Sanjay R. Hegde, S.M. Matto, R.N. Poddai,
Ms. Priya Hegde, Y.P. Mahajan, Arvind Kumar Sharma, A.K. Sanghi, A.R. >-
c Patil, Kiran Suri, R.M. Lambat and B.V. Bairam Das for the appearing parties.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

RAJENDRA BABU, J. These are three matters, two. of which are
appeals arising out of orders made by two different High Courts and the third
D matter is a writ petition filed by the respondent (Shree Gajanan Maharaj
Sansthan) in Civil Appeal No. 2727/1998 in this Court directly under Article
32 of the Constitution.
)or
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 272711998 ....
E The respondent in this appeal registered as a charitable trust under the
Bombay Public Trust Act filed a writ petition before the Bombay High Court,
Nagpur Bench, contending that Section 2(j) of the Industrial Disputes Act,
1947 [hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'] provides for definition of the
expression "industry"; that this Court interpreted the said expression in
F Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board v. A. Rajappa and Ors., [1978]
2 SCC 213; that separate judgments were rendered by Beg, C.J ., Chandrachud,
CJ. And Bhagwati, Krishna Iyer and Desai, JJ. together, while Jaswant Singh ,;.. t
and Tulzapurkar, JJ. partially dissented; that they explained the definition of
the expression "industry" in the Act; that all of them are of the view that the
matter should be clarified by the Legislature by a suitable amendment; that
G the said definition of "industry" as interpreted by this Court would include
'charitable trust' as well; that under the Industrial Disputes (Amendment)
Act, 1982 by clause (c) thereof definition of the term "industry" has been
amended and 'charitable organisations' have been excluded from the term
"industry"; that Section 1(2) of the Amending Act provides that the Act shall
H come into force on such date as the Central Government may by a notification
U.O.l. v. GAJANAN MAHARAJ SANSTHAN [RAJENDRA BABU, J.] 603

in the Official Gazette appoint; that although most of the provisions of the A
--. Amending Act have been brought into effect by a notification dated August
21, 1984, clause (c), which has amended the definition of the term "industry",
has not been brought into force; that thus, the definition of the term "industry"
as it stood prior to the amendment is still applicable to the employees working
in the appellant's institution; that the Central Government has arbitrarily B
withheld the enforcement of the said provision for a sufficiently long time
and, therefore, a writ of mandamus needs to be issued to the Central
Government to notify the date for bringing the provisions into force. The
Central Government took the stand that enforcing the provision under clause
(c) without providing for appropriate remedies to the employees working in
hospitals, schools and temples they would, therefore, be rendered without C
any remedy in the event the said clause is put into force without enacting an
appropriate law or making certain amendments in the existing laws.

The High Court took the view that the Central Government in notifying

- the date when the provisions of the Act will come into force will have to
examine the attending circumstances before bringing the same into force and
such a po\ver would not empower the Central Government to decide whether
D

to bring a particular provision into force or not. 1-lowever, the High Court
was of the view that when the Amending Act was adopted by Parliament the
difficulties put forth by the appellants were prevalent and, therefore, it
authorised the Central Government to notify the appointed day. It is in these E
circumstances the High Court felt that it is obligatory for the Central
Government to examine whether difficulties as expressed still subsist and
what steps the Central Government had taken to surmount them and when
more than 18 years had elapsed the appellant ought to examine and decide
as to when it would be feasible to give effect to the provisions of the Amending
Act. In this appeal the order made by the High Court is in challenge. F

This Court made an order on 8.2.200 I to the following effect :-

"The direction issued by the High Court in respect of which these
appeals are filed is that the Union of India should examine and decide G
within six months as to when it would be feasible to give effect to
Sub-section 2 of Section I of the Industrial Disputes Amending Act,
1982 contained in the Amending Act. Now, it is stated on behalf of
the Union of India that the said exercise has been done and they do
•not find it feasible to give effect to the provisions at this stage. lt
would be appropriate to file an affidavit in a matter of this nature and H
604 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] 3 S.C.R.

A thereafter take a decision. Learned counsel for the Appellant-Union
of India seeks six weeks time to file the affidavit. Call after six
weeks."

B
Thereafter, an affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Central Government
in this regard which is as follows ':-

"(2) That this Hon'ble Court vide its order dated 18th April 2001 was
-
pleased to grant one week time to the Union of India to file a better
affidavit regarding the present stage of notifying the amendment of
Section 2( c) of the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1982.
c Pursuant to the said order, the present affidavit is being filed.

(3) That the Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Bill, 1982 was
introduced to amend the definition of the term industry.

(4) That the Government also introduced the Hospitals and Other
D Institutions (Settlement of Disputes) Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The former Bill was enacted but the later bill was not pursued because
-
of opposition to various provisions.

As a consequence the amended definition of the term "industry" could
E not be brought into effect in the absence of alternative grievance
111achinery for employees in hospitals, educational institutions, etc.
who would have been denied the protection of the Industrial Disputes
Act, 1947.

(5) That another attempt was made by introducing, 'the Hospitals and
F Other Institutions (Redressal of Grievances of Employees) Bill', but
it lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 1989. .;. t

(6) That Bipartite Committee for new Industrial Relations law under
the Chairmanship of Sh. G. Ramanujam was set up by the Government
for formulation of comprehensive industrial formulations law, but the
G
views of this Committee on the definition of the terms industry were
not unanimous.

(7) That a proposal for modification of the definition of the term
'industry' was placed in the Standing Labour Committee and thereafter
H the issue was referred to the new Bipartite Committee to formulate a
U.0.1. v. GAJANAN MAHARAJ SANSTHAN [RAJENDRA BABU, J.] 605

comprehensive Industrial Relations Bill. It was wound up as no A
consensus emerged.

(8) That the Ministry of Labour prepared a proposal to amend the
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 including definition of 'industry' and
the proposal was sent to Committee of Secretaries.
B
(9) In the meeting of Committee of Secretaries (COS) on 15.2.1999
it was agreed that an Inter-Ministerial Group would be set up by the
Ministry of Labour to finalise the proposals. Accordingly, an Inter-
Ministerial Group was set up with the representatives of 13 Ministries/
Departments.
c
(IO) That Meetings of the Inter-Ministerial Group with the
representatives of all the 13 Ministries/Departments were held on
14.5 .1999 and 11.1.200 I to consider the amendment proposals.

(I I) That meetings of COS under the chairmanship of the Cabinet D
Secretary were held on 15.2.1999, 3.11.1999, and 21.1.2000 to
consider the amendment proposals.

(12) That the proposal was revised/recast on the basis of
recommendations made by the Group and Inter-Ministerial Committee
of Secretaries. E

(13) That group of Ministers was constituted under the Chairmanship
of Dy. Chairman, Planning Commission to suggest the amendment
proposals. The group consisted of Ministers of 9 Ministries ..

(14) That group of Ministers has met on 11.4.2000, 12.5.2000 and
F
27.5.2000.

(15) That the proposal to amend the Industrial Disputes Act were
again revised on the basis of recommendations of Group of Ministers.
G
(16) That after finalising the proposals, it was sent to Ministry of
Law, Justice and Company Affairs for the opinion of Department of

• Legal Affairs. Department of Legal Affairs have concurred in the
proposals and a draft bill is being drafted by the Legislative
Department, Ministry of Law."
H
?--····
606 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002) 3 S.C.R.

A A reference has been made to the following decisions and to the criteria
upon which the delegated legislation and conditional legislation can be
distinguished:

Jn re the Delhi Laws Act, 1912, the Ajmet-Merwara (Extension of Laws)
Act, 1947 an·d The Part C States (Laws) Act, 1950, [1951] SCR 747, Rajnarain
B Singh v. The Chairman, Patna Administration Committee, Patna and Anr.,
[1955] 1 SCR 290, Hamdard Dawakhana (Wakj) Lal Kuan, Delhi and Anr.,
v. Union of India and Ors., [1960] 2 SCR 671, Suman Gupta and Ors. v.
State of J & Kand Ors., [1983] 4 SCC 339, Consumer Action Group and
Anr. v. State of TN and Ors., [2000] 7 SCC 425, and Agricultural Produce
C Market Committee v. Ashok Harikuni and Anr., [2000] 8 SCC 61.

In Aeltemesh Rein v. Union of India and Ors., [1988] 4 S~C 54, when
Section 30 of the Advocates Act, 1961 was not put into operation even after
· a lapse of 27 years of its enactment, this Court observed that the Court on
account of long lapse of time though cannot issue writ of mandamus it can
D ask the Government to consider within a reasonable time whether time for
enforcing the provision has arrived or not and no more.

In A.K. Roy v. Union of India and Ors., [ 1982] I SCC 271, a contention
was raised that despite the provisions of Section l (2) of the 44th Constitution
(Amendment) Act, 1978, Article 22 of the Constitution stood amended on
E 30.4.1979 when the Amendment Act received the assent of the President and
that there was nothing more that remained to be done by the Executive
except fixing a date for the commencement of the Act as provided under
Section 1(2) thereof. According to the said contention, Section I (2), which
is misconceived and abortive, must be ignored and severed from the rest of
F the Amendment Act. This Court observed that no mandamus could be issued
to the Executive directing it to commence the operation of the enactment;
that such a direction should not be construed as any approval by the Court
of the failure on the part of the Central Government for a long period to bring
the provisions of the enactment into force; that in leaving it to the judgment
of the Central Government to decide as to when the various provisions of the
G enactment should be brought into force, the Parliament could not have intended
that the Central Government may exercise a kind of veto over its constituent
will not ever bring the enactment or some of its provisions into force; that
if only the Parliament were to lay down an objective standard to guide and
control the discretion of the Central Government in the matter of bringing the
H various provisions of the Act into force, it would have been possible to
U.0.1. v. GAJANAN MAHARAJ SANSTHAN [RAJENDRA BABU.!.] 607
·-...... compel the Central Government by an appropriate writ to discharge the A
function assigned to it by the Parliament. It was further contended that an
amendment can be bad because it vests an uncontrolled power in the executive
in bringing an enactment into operation. This Court, however, noticed that
such power cannot be held to give an uncontrolled power to the executive
inasmuch as there are practical difficulties in the enforcement of laws and
those difficulties cannot be foreseen. It, therefore, became necessary to leave
B
the judgment to the Executive as to when the law should be brought into
....\ force. When enforcement of a provision in a statute is left to the discretion
of the Government without laying down any objective standards no writ of
mandamus could be issued directing the Government to consider the question
whether the provision should be brought into force and when it can do so. c
Delay in implementing the will of the Pariiament may draw adverse criticism
but on the data placed before us, we cannot say that the Government is not

- alive to the problem or is desirous of ignoring the will of the Parliament.

In the circumstances set out in the affidavit filed on behalf of the
Government, it would not be feasible for Government to set out any definite
D
day as to when they can take action as indicated by the High Court and,
-(
, therefore, the order made by the High Court cannot be given effect to at all.
Though there has been a sense of urgency on the part of the Government in
this regard, it has not been able to take a decision in the circumstances set
forth in the affidavit. Hence, while noticing that appropriate action has to be E
taken by the Government to bring into effect the Amending Act as indicated
by the High Court, we also take note of the various circumstances which
come in the way of the Government to give effect to the Amending Act

.... . immediately. That part of the order of the High Court by which writ of
mandamus has been issued to the Government to take action and to indicate
as to when it would be feasible to appoint a date for bringing into force the
Amending Act stands deleted. In other respects, the order made by the High
F

Court is maintained.

Appeal is partly allowed accordingly. No costs.
G
CIVIL APPEAL NO. 539311998

In this Civil Appeal, which is identical in nature with Civil Appeal No.
,..,.
2727/1998, the view. taken by the Karnataka High Court which is contrary
from that of the Bombay High Court is in challenge.
H
608 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2002] 3 S.C.R.

A In the light ofthe order made by us in Civil Appeal No. 2727/1998, this _.,._..-
appeal stands dismissed. No costs.

WRIT PETITION (C) NO. 63212000

In view of the order made in Civil Appeal Nos. 2727/1998, this writ
B petition stands dismissed.

K.K.T. C.A. No. 2727/98 partly allowed.
C.A. No. 5393/98 dismissed.
"
W.P. No. 632/2000 Stands dismissed.