'There's a shift in the court's attitude on labour laws'
How does the court deal with cases involving multinationals?
Enron is one such case. I am today in a position to mention, as the case has been resolved, that this litigation went on for a long time. The arbitration was on foreign land but litigation was in the Bombay high court. The case also came before the Supreme Court. This project is very important as far as energy/power is concerned. This is just one of so many examples.
Many foreign investors are hesitant to make investments in India as they get stuck with the existing labour laws...
This question should be directed to the Executive. We in the Supreme Court have only the power of interpretation of the law. Probably there are some measures in the pipeline.
Have any labour-related cases come before the Supreme Court?
Not that I am aware of. The labour laws have been well-settled. Hardly anything is left as far as interpretation part is concerned. In any case anybody can come to the court as courts are open to each and everyone -- citizen or non-citizen, an individual person or a corporation -- and our approach has to be the same.
Read the Supreme Court decisions during the last 10 years. From that I can say there does appear to be some shift in the attitude of the court on labour laws. What's important is maintaining discipline by the workforce. The punishment which may be inflicted ordinarily is to be left to the management.
There were cases where say a workman had assaulted or abused the management, the court had taken the view that dismissal was too harsh and disproportionate to the misconduct. There have been a couple of cases in the recent past and on that basis I can say there's a balanced shift in the line of thinking in the Supreme Court and dismissal orders have been upheld.
Image: Enron's Dabhol Power Corporation Plant in Maharashtra.
Photograph: Rediff Archives