New Delhi, Aug 18: Continuing his criticism of the Supreme Court judgement on government employees right to strike, Attorney- General Soli J Sorabjee today said the ruling that they had not even moral or equitable right to strike "could have been appreciated" in the emergency period. Reiterating that the ruling pertaining to "moral and equitable right" of the employees was "uncalled for", Sorabjee said "this judgement could have been appreciated in the emergency period between 1975 to 1977 and not in this age". "This judgement is of another age," the Attorney General said presiding over a seminar of United Lawyers' Association discussing the recent judgement emanating from the case on mass dismissal of government employees in Tamil Nadu. Saying that the "sweeping observations made by the judges in the judgement were of grave concern", Sorabjee said it appeared that the judgement reflects singular mindset of the judges that all forms of strike were bad. He said the apex court itself had said in a 1989 ruling that "the right to strike is an important weapon in the armoury of the worker and has been recognised by almost all democratic countries as a mode of redress for resolving the grievances of workers."
Senior advocate Rajiv Dhawan and T R Andhiyarujina agreed with the Attorney General and opined that the Supreme Court overstepped by declaring that government employees had not even the moral or equitable right to strike. However, senior advocate M N Krishnamani differed and hailed the apex court judgement on the ground that trade unions have converted their collective bargaining power into blackmailing power.
Bureau Report