India, March 18 -- The government has argued that it be given a free hand in deciding what is a "sovereign function", and, by implication, what is an "industry", in a case before the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court that has the potential to define the purview of labour laws.

On Tuesday, the Centre told a nine-judge Constitution bench that while the expansive "triple test" for defining industry, evolved in the 1978 Bangalore Water Supply case remains sound in law, its indiscriminate application has blurred the line between commercial activity and constitutionally mandated governance, and that the final determination of what constitutes a "sovereign function" should rest with the executive.

Opening arguments in the long-pending re...