In Brief
Globe Ground India Employees Union challenged an order refusing to implead Lufthansa German Airlines (the first respondent) as a party to industrial dispute proceedings concerning the retrenchment of 106 workmen by its subsidiary, Globe Ground India Pvt. Ltd. The Supreme Court held that the first respondent was neither necessary nor proper party. The reference order limited adjudication to whether the subsidiary's closure and retrenchment were justified under the Industrial Disputes Act. Since the subsidiary was an independent corporate entity (with 51% shareholding by Lufthansa's subsidiary and 49% by Bird Group), mere shareholding was insufficient to implead the parent company. The corporate veil cannot be pierced without showing misuse for wrongful purposes. The Court dismissed the appeal, upholding that the first respondent had no effective role in adjudication.
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