Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
Under the Industrial Relations Code 2020, depriving a large number of employees of DRDO, Department of Atomic Energy and ISRO of their status as “workman” and thereby the rights they had as “worker” is totally unjustified and must be opposed.
The All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), which represents Defence Civilian employees in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has strongly objected to the exclusion of institutions from the definition of “Industry” under the Industrial Relations (IR) Code, 2020. The employees of these organisations were hitherto recognised as “workmen” under the Industrial Disputes Act (ID Act), 1947 and were covered under the labour laws.
Workers all over the country have opposed the four labour codes from the day they were proposed as they curtail rights of workers and are aimed to benefit capitalists. They have been demanding the repeal of all the Codes. Despite sustained opposition of workers and their organizations, the current government passed four Labour Codes and notified them for implementation with effect from 21 November 2025. The draft rules for each of the Codes have been notified on 30 December 2025, placing them in the public domain and inviting stakeholder feedback within 30 days.
The Codes have excluded large number of workers form their ambit by raising the minimum number of workers to be employed. Another method used to exclude workers is by the redefinition of “Industry” under the IR Code, 2020. The Defence Research, Atomic Energy and Space are no more considered as “industry”. This effectively means a large number of Central Government employees are no more considered as “workmen”. The government has sought to justify the exclusion by categorising these institutions under “sovereign functions” of the State.
Reacting to the government’s justification, Com. C Srikumar, General Secretary, AIDEF, said, “Sovereign functions traditionally cover core state activities such as defence, war, law-making and justice. The term ‘defence’ is now being loosely extended to defence manufacturing and research units, which is legally untenable.”
He pointed out that in DRDO, scientists and officers engaged in core research are already excluded from the definition of ‘workman’ under the ID Act, 1947. However, a large number of other employees perform roles that clearly fall under the definition of “workman” as per both the ID Act, 1947 and the Factories Act, 1948. The same applies to institutions under Atomic Energy and ISRO.
He referred to the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board vs A. Rajappa. The judgment laid down a triple test to determine whether an organisation qualifies as an “Industry”:
- The organisation must carry out a systematic activity;
- The activity must be organised through cooperation between employer and employee;
- The activity must be directed towards production and/or distribution of goods or services to satisfy human wants and wishes (excluding purely spiritual or religious functions).
All the DRDO laboratories fully satisfy this triple test and have therefore been treated as “Industry” under the ID Act, 1947 for decades. Workers in these establishments enjoyed statutory rights such as formation of trade unions, constitution of works committees and access to labour courts.
The exclusion has to do with the increasing interest of big monopoly capitalists in defence industry, space and atomic energy. The government has opened DRDO, Atomic Energy and Space sectors to private participation. The recently enacted SHANTI Act has opened Atomic Energy also to private sector.
The AIDEF has written to the Labour Ministry and urged it to instruct the Ministry of Defence to continue all existing labour protections and service-related rights for DRDO employees.
Reiterating AIDEF’s stand, Com. Srikumar said: “The Government of India, as a model employer, cannot arbitrarily withdraw rights that employees have enjoyed for decades. AIDEF will fight against any injustice inflicted on Defence Civilian Employees of DRDO, Atomic Energy and ISRO.”