SHETH MOTISHAW LALBAUG JAIN CHARITIES vs BOMBAY GENERAL EMPLOYEES'ASSOCIATION and ANR.

Judgment text excerpt

k 1/25 5 wp 1946.97 J os.doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.1946 OF 1997 Seth Motishaw Lalbaug Jain Charities ....Petitioner V/S Bombay General Employees’ Association & Anr. ....Respondents _________ Mr. Pradyumna D. Sharma with Mr. Piyush Shah, Mr. Gautam P. Khobragade, Mr. Randhirkumar N. Mondal & Ms. Nishi Jain for the Petitioner. Mr. Arshad Shaikh, Senior Advocate, Amicus Curiae. Ms. Neeta Karnik, Senior Advocate, Amicus Curiae. __________ CORAM : SANDEEP V. MARNE, J. RESERVED ON: 2 DECEMBER 2025 PRONOUNCED ON: 12 DECEMBER 2025. JUDGMENT: 1. This Petition is filed by the Petitioner-Trust challenging the Award passed by the Industrial Tribunal, essentially raising a plea that it does not fall in the definition of the term ‘industry’ under Section 2(j) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (ID Act) and that therefore it is not amenable to the jurisdiction of Industrial Tribunal 2. Seth Motishaw Lalbaug Jain Charities is a public charitable trust registered under provisions of the then Bombay Public Trusts Act, 1950. The scheme of Petitioner-Trust was framed by this Court in 1925, and the objective of the Trust is to propagate Jain religion and katkam Page No. 1 of 25 k 2/25 5 wp 1946.97 J os.doc provide help to needy people. It claims to be a religious charitable trust. At the relevant time, there were about 35 employees employed by the Trust as watchmen, cleaners, sweepers, poojaries, electrical staff, cashiers etc. The employees joined the Bombay General Employees Association, a trade union registered under the provisions of the Trade Unions Act, 1926. By letter dated 22 January 1983, Respondent-Union demanded permanency, scales of pay, dearness allowance, privileged leave, sick leave, casual leave, pai