CHRISTIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES' UNION & ANR. versus CHRISTIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE VELLORE ASSOCIATION & ORS.

Citation: [1988] 1 S.C.R. 546 · Decided: 20-10-1987 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: E.S. VENKATARAMIAH · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed
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Judgment (excerpt)

A 
CHRISTIAN MEDlCAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL 
EMPLOYEES' UNION & ANR. 
v. 
CHRISTIAN MEDICAL COLLEGE VELLORE 
ASSOCIATION & ORS. 
B. 
OCTOBER 20, 1987 
[E.S. VENKATARAMIAH AND K.N. SINGH, JJ] 
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Constitution of India-Art. 30(1) read with Arts. 41, 42, & 43-
Right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice 
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conferred on religious and linguistic minorities-The right has to be 
exercised subject to the general laws enacted by the State to give protec-
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tion to the recognised rights of workers. 
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947-ss. 9A, 10, 11-A, 12 and 33-In 
their application to educational institutions established and adminis-
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tered by religious and linguistic minorities, the provisions do not 
abridge the right conferred on them by Art. 30( 1) of the Constitution. 
Sometime during the period 1975-78, the first respondent-Asso-
ciation managing the affairs of the Christian Medical College and 
Hospital at Vellore dismissed three of its employees from service and 
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terminated the services of another employee who was on probation. 
When industrial disputes were raised in this behalf, the State Govern-
ment made two separate references to the Labour Court for adjudica-
tion: one in respect of the three employees who had been dismissed and 
the other in respect of the employee whose services had been termi-
nated. Questioning the validity of the reference the first respondent 
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filed two Writ Petitions for quashing them and a third Writ Petition 
praying for a declaration that the provisions of the Industrial Disputes 
' 
Act, 1947 were unconstitutional and ultra vires and were inapplicable in f-· 
entirety to the minority educational institutions protected by Art. 30(1) 
of the Constitution. The first Respondent pleaded that the hospital 
attached to the Christian Medical College formed an integral part of the 
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college which was an educational institution established and adminis-
tered by a minority and thus was also entitled to the protection of Art. 
30(1); that the college and the hospital being minority institutions en-
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titled to the protection of Art. 30(1), any industrial dispute arising 
between the management and employees of the college and the hospital 
could not be adjudicated upon under the provisions of the Act as such 
H adjudication amounted to interference with the right of the minority to 
546 
EMPLOYEES UNION v. C.M. COLLEGE 
547 
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administer the college and the hospital; and that the Act was not appli-
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cable to educational institutions generally irrespective of their being 
minority institutions or not. 
The High Court held that the Christian Medical CoJlege Hospital 
which was attached to the Christian Medical College was an educational 
institution; that even so, it was an industry within the meaning of the 
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expression 'industry' given in the Act, and that even though the College 
and the hospital constituted an industry, they together constituting an 
educational institution established and administered by a minority, 
ss. 9-A, 10, 11-A, 12 and 33 of the Act would not be applicable to them 
by virtue of Art. 30(1) of the Constitution, and, accordingly, quashed 
the reference made under s. lO(l)(c) of the Act to the Labour Court. 
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It was argued on behalf of the first respondent that the application 
of the provisions of the Act would result in the abridgment of the right 
of the management of minority educational institutions guaranteed 
under Art. 30(1) of the Constitution to administer such institutions 
inasmuch as the Labour Court or Tribunal might set aside an order of 
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dismissal or removal of a workman passed by the manageme'lt aud 
reinstate him in service or make an order altering his conditions of 
service contrary to the agreement entered into with him and the mino-
rity educational institution would be exposed to constant and endless 
... 
litigation. Reliance was placed in support of the above propositions on 
the decision of this Court'in Ahmedabad St. Xavier's College Society & 
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Anr. e!c. v. State of Gujarat & Anr., [1975] 1 S.C.R. 173 wherein this 
Court held that certain provisions of the Gujarat University Act, 1949 
were violative of Art. 30(1) of the Constitution. 
Allowing the appeal, 
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HELD: The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 has been conceived and 
enacted with the object of bringing into existence a machinery for 
investigation and settlement of industrial disputes between employers 
and workmen in accorda
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