India, Aug. 20 -- A nine-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to deliver on Thursday its verdict on the contentious issue of defining the term "industry" under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices B V Nagarathna, P S Narasimha, Dipankar Datta, Ujjal Bhuyan, Satish Chandra Sharma, Joymalya Bagchi, Alok Aradhe and Vipul M Pancholi had on March 19 reserved its judgement in the matter.

During the hearing in the matter, the bench had said it would examine the legal correctness of a 1978 judgment of a seven-judge bench giving an expansive interpretation of the term "industry" to govern labour relations.

On February 21, 1978, a seven-judge bench delivered a verdict o...