Transportation Of LPG Cylinders A Public Utility Service: Kerala High Court Restrains Strike

The Kerala High Court on Friday, while declaring the transportation of LPG Cylinders to be a 'public utility service' as defined in Section 2(n) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, restrained a proposed strike by members of Kannur District Fuel Employees Union.

It held that no person employed in such public utility service can go on strike during the pendency of conciliation proceedings before a Conciliation Officer and seven days after the conclusion of such proceedings.

Justice Murali Purushothaman, on observing that since conciliation proceedings were pending in the instant case, and since Section 22 prohibits strikes and lockouts during the pendency of any such conciliation proceedings, issued an interim order restraining the proposed strike on 22nd and 23rd of August, 2022, or any subsequent day during the pendency of the aforementioned proceedings. 

The petitioners in the instant case, represented by Advocates P. Ramakrishnan, Preethi Ramakrishnan , T.C.Krishna, C.Anil Kumar, Asha K.Shenoy, Pratap Abraham Varghese, and Gokul Krishna, were engaged in the business of transportation of packed LPG cylinders. 

It was submitted by the counsel for the petitioners that the proposed strike for 48 hours from 22.08.2022 would disrupt the transportation of LPG cylinders from HPCL's bottling plant at Mangalore to different distributors in Kerala.

The Court took note of the fact that a conciliation meeting had been convened on 24.06.2022, which had been adjourned to a later date. It was the contention of the petitioners that the proposed strike was illegal for being violative of Section 22 (1) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and seeking an interim order for restraining the same on this ground. 

It was in this light that the said interim order had been granted. 

The respondents in the instant case were represented by the Government Pleader for the District Labour Officer, Kannur, and Advocate Gopikrishnan Nambiar for HPCL and the Chief Plant Manager of HPCL LPG Bottling Plant, Baula, Mangalore. 

Case Title: Sri Sivabalan Transports & Ors v. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd & Ors. 

Click Here To Read/Download The Order