COMMON ORDER

The short question that arises for consideration in both these writ petitions is whether the petitioner would constitute an "Industry" within the meaning of Section 2(j) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and thus the petitioner ought to comply with the provisions of Section 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, while retrenching the 1st respondent in the above writ petitions. A common order is passed in both the writ petitions as the petitioner is aggrieved by the common order of the Tribunal in I.D.Nos. 62/1992 and 63/1992 dated 03.04.2006 and the question that is raised in both the writ petitions is identical. The 1st respondent in both the writ petitions are workmen, their stands/ arguments are again common.

2. At the outset, it may be relevant to note that this is the second round of litigation. Prior to the present writ petitions, the common order of the Tribunal in I.D.Nos.62/1992 and 63/1992 dated 01.04.2006, was challenged by way of writ petitions in W.P.Nos.10597 and 10598 of 1997 which was remitted back to the Tribunal to give a specific finding as to whether the petitioner Department/Unit is an "Industry" within the meaning of Section 2(j) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

3. Pursuant to the above order of this Court, the Tribunal passed the impugned order holding that the petitioner would fall within the meaning of "Industry" in terms of Section 2(j) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. It is this order of the Tribunal which has been challenged by the petitioner in the present writ petitions on the premise the petitioner would not fall within the definition of Section 2(j) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

4. Before proceeding further, it may be relevant to briefly set out the relevant nature of the petitioner's activities/functions:

i) Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is a premier multi - disciplinary Nuclear Research Centre of India having excellent infrastructure for advanced Research and Development with expertise covering the entire spectrum of Nuclear Science and Engineering and is involved in research activities relating to the full nuclear fuel cycle that includes design of nuclear reactors and control system reactors.

ii) Head, Water and Steam Chemistry Laboratory, i.e., Petitioner herein is a constituent laboratory of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (hereinafter referred to as "BARC"). This Laboratory, located at Kalpakkam, was established in the year 1984. A major objective in setting up the laboratory was to develop competence and infrastructure to comprehensively address issues related to aspects of water chemistry, primary, secondary, tertiary and auxiliary cooling systems of power reactors. This unique laboratory was created to cater to the requirement of the entire Department of Atomic Energy, which is the first and only one of its kind in the country that carries out specialized R&D work on all aspects of cooling water chemistry and biology of nuclear reactors.

The mandate of this laboratory covers the entire spectrum of coolant circuits and addresses aspects such as material compatibility, steam generator integrity, radioactivity transport, bio - fouling, bio - corrosion and environmental effects of steam condenser discharges.

iii) The petitioner's Laboratory serves as the nodal laboratory for a major multi-institutional project on thermal ecology, organized to study the impact of thermal and chemical stress caused by condenser effluents on coastal marine organisms.

I must add that the activities mentioned above are not exhaustive of Head,Water and Steam Chemistry Laboratory i.e., petitioner herein. The petitioner is an integral part of the research activities relating to the full nuclear fuel cycle carried out in BARC. In other words, the activities in BARC are inter-related and cannot be severed from other activities of its constituent laboratories.

5. Findings of the Tribunal :-

It may be relevant to set out briefly the findings of the Tribunal, which is the subject