The government on Friday issued a notification refreshing the categorisation of currency printing presses and mints as ‘public utility service’ under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Upon declaration of a service as public utility service as per the law, employees need to comply with certain conditions for strikes and lockouts. The printing presses and mints declared as public utility services include: India Security Press (Nashik), India Government Mints (Kolkata, Noida, Mumbai and Hyderabad), Security Printing Press (Hyderabad), Security Paper Mill (Hoshangabad) Services in the Bank Note Press (Dewas) Currency Note Press (Nashik Road). The Ministry of Labour and Employment’s notification dated February 22, which is valid for six months and can be reissued after expiry, is part of a series of earlier notifications declaring currency printing presses and mints as ‘public utility service.’ The earlier notifications were issued on January 15, 2018 and then on July 13, 2018. On February 1, the ministry had in a notification also declared the services of ‘Transport (other than railways) for the carriage of passengers or goods (by land or water)’, covered by entry 1 in the First Schedule to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, as a public utility service for six months. Similarly, ‘chemical fertilisers industry’ was added to the list of services declared as public utility on December 28 last year, while ‘coal industry’ was declared as public utility on November 1, 2018. Before that, there have been similar notifications giving public utility service status to ‘Bhartiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Limited, Mysore (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal)’ on October 9, 2018; ‘services engaged in the industrial establishments manufacturing or producing Nuclear Fuel and components, Heavy Water and Allied Chemicals and Atomic Energy’ on September 27, 2018; ‘copper mining industry’, ‘uranium industry’, ‘service in any oilfield’ on September 6, 2018. Most of these notifications have been issued to renew their status of public utility service from an earlier dated notification. As per the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, ‘public utility service’ means any railway service (or any transport service for the carriage of passengers or goods by air); any service in, or in connection with the working of, any major port or dock; any section of an industrial establishment, on the working of which the safety of the establishment or the workmen employed therein depends; any postal, telegraph or telephone service; any industry which supplies power, light or water to the public; any system of public conservancy or sanitation.
