The Labour Court at Bilaspur ruled that it would not pass any order on a petition filed by the new BALCO management seeking that the strike by its employees be declared illegal. The first-class magistrate of the court, A K Sanothia had ruled that he would not pass any order on a petition filed by the new BALCO management.

During the hearing, the advocate for the employees union pointed out that the Supreme Court in its order had said that hearing of all cases relating to BALCO in various courts be kept pending, so even the Chhattisgarh High Court had kept pending five cases relating to BALCO since March. Sanothia said that he would give a ruling on the petition filed by the BALCO management only if he obtained an order from the Supreme Court saying the Labour Court could hear the matter.

Bureau Report