What Prevails: Navigating The Conflict Between Model Standing Orders And Private Settlement Through A Critical Analysis Of Bharatiya Kamgar Karmachari Mahasangh V. Jet Airways Ltd.

Ajitesh Singh, University School of Law and Legal Studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi

Introduction

The conflict between Model Standing Orders and private settlements poses significant challenges in labour law. These Standing Orders, which are legally mandated guidelines governing employment conditions, often collide with privately negotiated settlements between employers and employees requiring courts of law to go into the merits of these conflicts and settle the law regarding the same.

Two learned judges of the Supreme Court settled the law on whether the Standing Order issued in matters of industrial employment would override a private agreement between the parties. The Judgment authored by Justice Sanjay Karol, on behalf of himself and Justice Abhay S. Oka, upheld the civil appeal arising out of the Bombay High Court’s impugned order. With the quashing of the Bombay High Court’s judgment, which upheld the Central Government Industrial Tribunal’s order against the workmen’s trade union, the Supreme Court has clarified the twin issues framed in the appeal i.e., the jurisdiction of the Industrial Tribunal(s) and second, the nature and overriding powers of the Standing Order. Therefore, it becomes pertinent to look into the facts, the issues and the law applied to obtain a comprehensive outlook of the case at hand.