Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970

The State Government of Orissa issued a notification on 28 April 2000 abolishing contract labour for workers in the OAP plant of M/s Paradeep Phosphate Ltd. The Mazdoor Union filed writ petitions seeking enforcement of the notification and regularisation of the affected workers. The company contended that the State Gov…

The Gujarat Transport Department floated a tender for manpower services with conditions that the salary paid must not be less than the minimum wage and that bids must be fixed, not open‑ended. Three bidders qualified; the Technical Evaluation Committee fixed a minimum‑wage figure of Rs 3,00,92,346, rendering the bids o…

The Nashik Workers Union filed several complaints under the Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Unions and Prevention of Unfair Labour Practices Act, 1971 seeking reinstatement and back wages for trainees of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The dispute turned on whether, for HAL, the "appropriate Government" under Sec…

The case concerned workmen employed by a contractor to run a statutory canteen on the premises of Air India, which under Section 46 of the Factories Act, 1948, must provide such a facility. The workmen claimed they were deemed employees of Air India and sought regularisation and other employment benefits. The Supreme C…

The petitioners, Anganwadi workers and helpers employed under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme in Gujarat, sought gratuity benefits under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. The Gujarat High Court’s Division Bench held that they were not employees and thus ineligible for gratuity, overturning an e…

Bhuvnesh Kumar Dwivedi was employed by Hindalco Industries Ltd as a labour supervisor from 30‑12‑1992 to 27‑07‑1998. Although the employer periodically terminated his service on the pretext of "sanction expired" and re‑appointed him on short contracts, the workman rendered continuous service of nearly six years. The La…

The Supreme Court examined whether Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) was subject to the 24‑April‑1990 notification issued under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, and whether the workmen who were engaged through contractors were direct employees of BHEL. The Court held that BHEL’s Haridwar ope…

The workmen, represented by the FCI Labour Federation, sought to compel the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to regularise contract labourers under the Departmental Labour System (DLS) as directed by the Supreme Court in a 2018 order. The corporation had instead regularised the workers under its long‑existing Direct Pay…

The appellant, Adiraj Manpower Services Pvt. Ltd., a manpower recruitment agency, entered into agreements with Sigma Electric Manufacturing to supply personnel for various manufacturing activities. The Commissioner of Central Excise issued a show‑cause notice alleging that the appellant had failed to assess and pay ser…

The Central Government issued a notification on 08‑09‑1994 under Section 10(1) of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 prohibiting contract labour in several categories of work in ONGC establishments. ONGC challenged the notification before the Uttarakhand High Court, which quashed it, but the ONGC …

The case concerned 136 contract workers who had been employed as trolley retrievers at Delhi airports and sought regularisation after the Central Government’s 2004 notification under the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 (CLRAA) prohibited such contract labour in the Airports Authority of India (AAI)…

The case concerned workers who had been handling coal and iron‑ore at Chennai Port Trust and later claimed regularisation of their services after the activity was shifted to Ennore Port Trust. The workers formed an association, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the port trust that included an arbitr…

The workmen employed in the canteen of Air India, which was operated by Chef Air, a unit of the Hotel Corporation of India (HCI), claimed they were regular employees of Air India. Air India argued that HCI was a separate legal entity and that it had no control over the workers' hiring, wages, or discipline. The Supreme…

The Supreme Court examined challenges by private employers, including Ficus Pax Private Ltd., to central and state orders issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 that compelled private establishments to pay full wages to all workers during the COVID‑19 lockdown. The petitioners argued that the orders were ultra‑…

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. (the appellant) had engaged a contractor to transport crushed coal, employing 32 workmen from 1984 to 1994. The workers' union sought regularisation of all 32 workers under clauses of the National Coal Wage Agreement IV, leading to a settlement on 5 April 1997 that regularised only 19 of them, …

The Supreme Court examined whether the Maharashtra Mathadi, Hamal and Other Manual Workers (Regulation of Employment and Welfare) Act, 1969 and the Grocery Markets or Shops Unprotected Workers Scheme, 1970 could be applied to Pepsico India Holding Ltd., which manufactures petro‑chemical products, soft drinks and bottle…

The dispute arose from a Tender Call Notice issued by the SCB Medical College Hospital, Cuttack, which required bidders to submit a "valid labour licence". M/s. Utkal Suppliers (appellant) was awarded the contract, while M/s. Maa Kanak Durga Enterprises (respondent No.1) was disqualified for not having a contract‑labou…

The Supreme Court examined a batch of appeals filed by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) challenging High Court orders that regularised workmen based on the PCLU judgment. The Court questioned whether the PCLU decision correctly interpreted clause 2(ii) of ONGC’s Certified Standing Orders and whether it had consid…

Kirloskar Brothers Ltd., the principal employer, appealed against orders that reinstated six contract labourers (Ramcharan & others) and directed Kirloskar to absorb them as employees. The labour contract with the contractor (respondent No.7) had ended and the contractor dismissed the workers. The Supreme Court examine…

The case concerned 2,040 contract labourers employed in SAIL's captive limestone mine who, after a 1993 prohibition on contract labour under the CLRA Act, continued to work and claimed parity of wages with regular SAIL employees under the NJCS memorandum. The respondents sought relief under Section 20(1) of the Minimum…

The Supreme Court dismissed ONGC's appeal against the Bombay High Court's order upholding the Central Government Industrial Tribunal's findings. The dispute concerned whether contract workmen engaged through contractors were employees of ONGC and thus entitled to pay parity, and whether a settlement dated 19 September …

The respondents, contract Radio Operators of ONGC, were ordered by the Madras High Court in 2006 to be absorbed as Marine Assistant Radio Operators or, if no posts were available, to receive pay parity. The corporation complied with the pay‑parity direction but did not create supernumerary Marine Assistant Radio Operat…

The ONGC Purbanchal Employees Association challenged a High Court Division Bench order that remitted two industrial dispute matters concerning the regularisation of contract workers back to the Industrial Tribunal. The Tribunal had earlier awarded regularisation, an award that was upheld by a Single Judge of the Gauhat…

The Supreme Court examined an appeal by Bhilwara Dudh Utpadak Sahakari S. Ltd. against judgments of the Rajasthan High Court that upheld a Labour Court finding that certain workmen were employees of the appellant, not of a contractor. The Labour Court had determined that the workmen were under the appellant's officers'…