India, Jan. 29 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to direct the government to formally include domestic workers in the scheduled employments under labour laws, observing that "regressive methods" of trade unions had been largely responsible for stalling industrial growth in the country and forcing the closure of factories.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi said that courts were extremely circumspect in matters involving economic and labour policy and could not step into the legislative domain by directing governments to enact or expand statutory frameworks.

At the same time, the bench acknowledged the vulnerability and harassment faced by domestic workers and "impressed upon" states and Unio...