Report No. 58

Volume of industrial litigation and relevant statistics

7.2. The inquiry contemplated by this question was intended to elicit opinion from interested parties on the different aspects of the problem raised in the question and decide which method of dealing with industrial disputes would lead to a satisfactory and expeditious disposal and reduce the volume of industrial litigation on the dockets of the High Courts and the Supreme Court. The volume of litigation relating to industrial relations ending befog the Supreme Court can be illustrated by the figures which have been supplied1 us for the years 1969, 1970 and 1971:

		1969	1970	1971
(a)	Number of appeals at the opening of the year	290	311	430
(b)	Number of appeals instituted during the year	628	175	256
(c)	Number of appeals disposed of during the year
	(i) allowed	536	6	22
	(ii) dismissed	52	14	87
	Total	607	56	125
(d)	Number of appeals pending at the end of the year	311	430	591

1. Statement No. S. 6.

We ought to add that these figures include appeals under Article 132 and Article 133 of the Constitution. They also show that disposal of these matters is not able to keep pace with institution; and, as is well-known, expeditious and satisfactory disposal of industrial matter is very important in the industrial life of our country. That is one consideration which weighed in our mind when we formulated the Questionnaire. We thought time had come when all interested parties should consider whether any satisfactory alternative method could be devised by which the number of industrial matters going to the High Courts under Article 226 and to the Supreme Court under Articles 132 and 136 could be appreciably reduced.