Jammu Tawi, April 9 -- The Supreme Court has said private employers can include a clause in appointment letters specifying that any employment-related disputes must be resolved in a particular court or jurisdiction.

A bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan said a contract was a legally binding agreement, regardless of the parties involved or their strengths.

"The right to legal adjudication cannot be taken away from any party through contract but can be relegated to a set of courts for the ease of the parties," it said.

In the dispute at hand, the court observed, the clause did not take away the right of the employee to pursue a legal claim but only restricted them to pursue the claims before the courts in Mumbai alone....