Discouragement of preliminary objections and piecemeal threshold litigation in industrial adjudication

Industrial adjudicatory authorities and constitutional courts must discourage the practice adopted by employers of raising hyper-technical preliminary objections at the threshold to delay the substantive adjudication of industrial disputes. Deciding disputes in a piecemeal fashion by trying preliminary jurisdictional issues separately often results in protracted proceedings across multiple judicial tiers under Articles 226 and 136 of the Constitution, keeping industrial peace in prolonged uncertainty while breaking the economic resistance of workmen. Substantial justice demands that Industrial Tribunals and Labour Courts should decide all issues in controversy simultaneously rather than isolating preliminary challenges. High Courts and the Supreme Court should be circumspect and decline to exercise extraordinary supervisory jurisdictions at interlocutory stages to stifle the functioning of specialized tribunals constituted specifically for the expeditious resolution of labour conflicts. (M/S Premium Transmission Private Limited Vs The State of Maharashtra and Others | 2026 INSC 87).