Which one of the following industries is not a public utility service under the First Schedule of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 ?

Correct — D, (d) Tea Plantation. The booklet sets 'not' in bold italic — the item asks which industry is NOT in the list — and the list is a real, closed and checkable one.

The First Schedule to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is headed 'Industries which may be declared to be public utility services under sub-clause (vi) of clause (n) of section 2'. It works with section 2(n), which defines 'public utility service' to mean any railway service or any transport service for the carriage of passengers or goods by air; any service in, or in connection with the working of, any major port or dock; any section of an industrial establishment whose working or closing is likely to cause serious injury to the community; any postal, telegraph or telephone service; any industry which supplies power, light or water to the public; any system of public conservancy or sanitation; and — the sixth sub-clause — any industry specified in the First Schedule which the appropriate Government may, if satisfied that public emergency or public interest so requires, by notification declare to be a public utility service for a period not exceeding six months at a time.

The Schedule's entries include, among others: transport other than railways for the carriage of passengers or goods by land or water; banking; cement; coal; cotton textiles; food stuffs; iron and steel; defence establishments; service in hospitals and dispensaries; fire brigade service; India Government Mints; India Security Press; copper, lead, zinc and iron ore mining; service in any oilfield; service in the uranium industry; PYRITES MINING at entry 20; Security Paper Mill, Hoshangabad; services in the Bank Note Press, Dewas; phosphorite mining; magnesite mining; currency note press; manufacture or production of mineral oil and allied products; service in the Airports Authority of India; establishments manufacturing nuclear fuel, heavy water and allied chemicals; processing, production or distribution of fuel gases; MANUFACTURING OF ALUMINA AND ALUMINIUM at entry 30; mining of bauxite; services in the Bank Note Paper Mill India Private Limited, Mysore; and CHEMICAL FERTILIZER INDUSTRY at entry 33.

Options (a), (b) and (c) are therefore entries 33, 20 and 30 of the Schedule. Tea plantation appears nowhere in it. Plantation labour is regulated by a statute of its own, the Plantations Labour Act, 1951, and plantations are of course industries in the general sense of section 2(j) — but being an industry is not the same thing as being an industry the appropriate Government may declare a public utility service under the First Schedule.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)Chemical Fertilizer Industry — Chemical Fertilizer industry is on the Schedule — it is entry 33, the last substantive entry, added by notification under section 40, which empowers the appropriate Government to add to the First Schedule any industry it considers a public utility service. Its presence makes sense on the Schedule's own logic: fertiliser supply is seasonal, an interruption at sowing time cannot be made up later, and the harm falls on cultivators rather than on the parties to the dispute. Note the spelling as printed, with a z, and note that the entry is to the INDUSTRY, so that any establishment within it may be brought under a declaration.
• (b)Pyrites Mining — Pyrites Mining is on the Schedule — it is entry 20, inserted by notification S.O. 2061 of 30 May 1970. It belongs to a run of mineral entries the Central Government added through the 1960s and 1970s: copper, lead and zinc mining at entries 13 to 15, iron ore mining at 16, pyrites at 20, phosphorite at 23, magnesite at 24 and bauxite at 31. Pyrites is the sulphur ore from which sulphuric acid was made, which is why an interruption in its supply was treated as a matter of public interest. It looks like an obscure entry precisely because it is one — and that is why it is offered here, to tempt a candidate into rejecting it on unfamiliarity.
• (c)Manufacturing of Alumina and Aluminium — Manufacturing of Alumina and Aluminium is on the Schedule — it is entry 30, and the very next entry, 31, is mining of bauxite, the ore from which alumina is refined. The two were added together so that the whole chain from ore to metal could be covered. The option is worded to look like a trap of a different kind, since alumina and aluminium are two different substances and a reader scanning quickly may suspect one of them has been smuggled in; both are in the entry, exactly as printed here. The Schedule frequently pairs an ore with its processed product in this way, which is a useful thing to notice when deciding whether an unfamiliar-looking mineral entry is genuine.

'Public utility service' matters under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 because it changes what workmen and employers may lawfully do. Section 22 forbids a strike in a public utility service without notice — no workman may go on strike in breach of contract without giving the employer notice of strike within six weeks before striking, or within fourteen days of giving such notice, or before the expiry of the date of strike specified in the notice, or during the pendency of conciliation proceedings before a conciliation officer and seven days after their conclusion — and imposes the mirror-image restrictions on lock-outs by employers carrying on such a service. Section 23 adds the general prohibitions that apply to every industrial establishment. Section 2(n) then defines which services are public utility services, and it does so in two ways: five categories are public utility services inherently — railways and air transport of passengers or goods, service connected with the working of a major port or dock, postal, telegraph and telephone services, power, light and water supply to the public, and public conservancy or sanitation — while a sixth category, the industries in the First Schedule, become public utility services only when the appropriate Government declares them so by notification, on being satisfied that public emergency or public interest requires it, and then only for six months at a time, extendable by six months. Section 40 lets the appropriate Government add industries to the First Schedule, which is why the Schedule has grown by notification from ten entries in 1957 to more than thirty.

Key facts

• Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, section 2(n)(vi) — an industry specified in the First Schedule which the appropriate Government may, if satisfied that public emergency or public interest so requires, declare by notification to be a public utility service for a period not exceeding six months at a time.
• First Schedule entry 20 — Pyrites Mining, inserted by S.O. 2061 dated 30 May 1970.
• First Schedule entry 30 — Manufacturing of Alumina and Aluminium; entry 31 — Mining of Bauxite.
• First Schedule entry 33 — Chemical Fertilizer industry.
• Tea plantation is not an entry in the First Schedule; plantations are regulated by the Plantations Labour Act, 1951.
• Other entries include transport other than railways by land or water, banking, cement, coal, cotton textiles, food stuffs, iron and steel, defence establishments, service in hospitals and dispensaries, and fire brigade service.
• Section 2(n) also names five inherent public utility services — railway and air transport, service connected with a major port or dock, postal, telegraph and telephone services, supply of power, light or water to the public, and public conservancy or sanitation.
• Section 40 empowers the appropriate Government to add an industry to the First Schedule by notification, which is how the Schedule has grown.
• Section 22 imposes the notice requirements for strikes and lock-outs in public utility services.

Common traps

• Answering the positive question. The emphasised word is 'not', and three of the four industries are on the Schedule.
• Rejecting an entry because it sounds too obscure. Pyrites mining and alumina manufacture are both genuine entries.
• Assuming that any large industry must be on the Schedule. It is a list built by notification, not a ranking of importance.
• Confusing being an 'industry' under section 2(j) with being an industry that may be declared a public utility service under section 2(n)(vi). A tea plantation is the first without being the second.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under section 2(n)(vi) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, an industry specified in the First Schedule may be declared to be a public utility service by the appropriate Government for a period not exceeding :

  • (a)Three months at a time
  • (b)Six months at a time
  • (c)One year at a time
  • (d)Two years at a time

  Answer(b) Six months at a time

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is an entry in the First Schedule to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 ?

  • (a)Tea plantation
  • (b)Sugar mills
  • (c)Mining of Bauxite
  • (d)Rubber plantation

  Answer(c) Mining of Bauxite