In Brief
This Supreme Court decision concerns 90 workers seeking regularization of their services at Chennai Port Trust after a shift in cargo operations to Ennore Port Trust. The workers, who had engaged in coal and iron ore handling, argued they were employees entitled to permanent status, while the Port Trusts contended they were contractor-supplied workers without employment relationship. The High Court had partly allowed the workers' writ petition. The Supreme Court reversed this, holding that such disputes involving factual questions about employment status and eligibility—governed by an existing Memorandum of Understanding with an arbitration clause—should not be decided through writ jurisdiction. Instead, the Court directed parties to arbitration under the contractual dispute-resolution mechanism.
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