New Delhi, Aug. 25 -- Last week, the Supreme Court's nine-judge Constitution Bench, by a 6:3 majority, held that pending labour disputes under the old Industrial Disputes Act will continue to be decided using the definition of "industry" laid down by the court in 1978. The court left the definition under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 open, saying the new law must be interpreted independently. Mint explains

The issue dates back to the 1978 Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board v. A. Rajappa case, where the Supreme Court gave a broad meaning to "industry". It said organizations providing goods or services could fall under labour laws even without a profit motive. This came to be known as the Triple Test.

The broad definition pot...