ISSUE:
Whether Life Insurance Corporation Development Officers qualify as "workmen" under the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947?
Whether public sector businesses are justified in submitting preliminary objections to the maintainability of industrial dispute references?
RULE:
The words “any skilled or unskilled manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work” are not intended to limit or narrow the amplitude of the definition of workman. On the other hand they indicate and emphasise the broad sweep of the definition which is designed to cover all manner of persons employed in an industry, irrespective of whether they are engaged in skilled work or unskilled work, manual work, supervisory work, technical work or clerical work.
The broad intention is to take in the entire 'labour force' and exclude the 'managerial force'.