- (1.)The order dated 01.03.2018 passed by the Assistant Commissioner of Labour-first respondent under Section 33(2)(b) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, is under challenge in the present writ petition.
(2.)The writ petitioner-Management is GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute, which is a Non-Profit Organisation, registered under the Societies Registration Act and is providing Emergency Ambulance Services (108 Ambulance Service) in the State of Tamil Nadu, under a Private Public Partnership (PPP) Agreement with the Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, Department of Health, Government of Tamil Nadu.
(3.)The writ petitioner states that it is a Public Utility Service declared under Section 2(n) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 by the appropriate Government. The writ petitioner further states that the service rendered by the writ petitioner is a 24 hours service offered free for the needy people. Each Ambulance is based at a fixed location spread across all the 32 Districts in the State of Tamil Nadu and is manned by an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and a Pilot (Driver) at any given point of time. The objective is to ensure quality pre-hospital care service at the earliest to the victims. The organisation was incepted with the objective of delivering comprehensive, speedy, reliable and quality Emergency Care Services. This has been done by establishing the Emergency Response System that coordinates every emergency through a single toll free number 108 which when called in an emergency ensures prompt communication and activation of a response that includes, assessment of emergency, dispatch of ambulances, along with a well trained Emergency Medical Technician to render quality pre-hospital care and transport of the patient to the appropriate health care facility. Today, '108' is synonymous with the best in class emergency service and has been acknowledged as the most efficient, speedy, reliable and caring service provider in its category.