Management of Kairbetta Estate v Rajamanickam

Rule established

A 'lockout' under Section 2(l) of the Industrial Disputes Act is the employer's counterpart to a strike by workmen, namely the closing of a place of employment, suspension of work, or refusal to continue employing workers, undertaken to compel the workers to accept the employer's terms; a lockout that is not a genuine response to an industrial dispute, or is punitive/retaliatory rather than a bona fide part of collective bargaining pressure, may be treated as illegal.