Concept Crack: Labour Law's Essential Service

Finally got my head around the concept of 'essential service' in Labour Law. You know, that one thing that's been bugging me since Day 1 of our CLAT PG prep. It's all about understanding the nuances of service that are 'essential' to the public interest, like power, water, healthcare, etc.

What clicked was the idea that even if the employment of employees is not 'essential service' per se, but the work they do is – like in the case of the Karnataka Power Corporation Ltd. v. Jagadish Pai [1998] 4 SCC 105 – that qualifies. I scored well in this section, and it feels awesome to finally grasp that elusive concept. All thanks to hours of struggling with Kamala's Labour Law notes and, well, more hours of arguing with myself.