Trade Union - An Act to provide for the
registration of Trade Unions and in certain respects to define the law relating
to registered Trade Unions
Whereas it is expedient to
provide for the registration of Trade Unions and in certain respects to define
the law relating to registered Trade Unions;
It is hereby enacted as
follows:
CHAPTER I - PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent and
commencement.-
(1) This Act may be called
the Trade Unions Act, 1926.
(2) It extends to the whole
of India.
(3) It shall come into
force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the
Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions.- In this Act 'the appropriate Government' means, in relation to
Trade Unions whose objects are not confined to one State, the Central
Government, and in relation to other Trade Unions, the State Government, and,
unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, -
- (a) "executive" means
the body, by whatever name called, to which the management of the affairs
of a Trade Union is entrusted;
- (b) "office-bearer", in
the case of a Trade Union, includes any member of the executive thereof,
but does not include an auditor;
- (c) "prescribed" means
prescribed by regulations made under this Act;
- (d) "registered office"
means that office of a Trade Union which is registered under this Act as
the head office thereof;
- (e) "registered Trade
Union" means a Trade Union registered under this Act;
- (f) "Registrar" means -
- (i) a Registrar of Trade Unions
appointed by the appropriate Government under section 3, and includes any
Additional or Deputy Registrar of Trade Unions; and
- (ii) in relation to any Trade
Union, the Registrar appointed for the State in which the head or
registered office, as the case may be, of the Trade Union is situated ;
- (g) "trade dispute"
means any dispute between employers and workmen or between workmen and
workmen, or between employers and employers which is connected with the
employment or non-employment, or the terms of employment or the conditions
of labour, of any person, and "workmen" means all persons
employed in trade or industry whether or not in the employment of the
employer with whom the trade dispute arises; and
- (h) "Trade Union" means
any combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily for the
purpose of regulating the relations between workmen and employers or
between workmen and workmen, or between employers and employers, or for
imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or business,
and includes any federation of two or more Trade Unions:
Provided that this Act shall not affect -
- (i) any agreement between
partners as to their own business;
- (ii) any agreement between an
employer and those employed by him as to such employment; or
- (iii) any agreement in
consideration of the sale of the good-will of a business or of
instruction in any profession, trade or handicraft.
CHAPTER II - REGISTRATION OF TRADE UNIONS
3. Appointment of
Registrars.-
(1) The appropriate
Government shall appoint a person to be the Registrar of Trade Unions for each
State.
(2) The appropriate
Government may appoint as many Additional and Deputy Registrars of Trade Unions
as it thinks fit for the purpose of exercising and discharging, under the
superintendence and direction of the Registrar, such powers and functions of
the Registrar under this Act as it may, by order, specify and define the local
limits within which any such Additional or Deputy Registrar shall exercise and
discharge the powers and functions so specified.
(3) Subject to the
provisions of any order under sub-section (2), where an Additional or Deputy
Registrar exercises and discharges the powers and functions of a Registrar in
an area within which the registered office of a Trade Union is situated, the
Additional or Deputy Registrar shall be deemed to be the Registrar in relation
to the Trade Union for the purposes of this Act.
4. Mode of registration.-
(1) Any seven or more
members of a Trade Union may, by subscribing their names to the rules of the
Trade Union and by otherwise complying with the provisions of this Act with
respect to registration, apply for registration of the Trade Union under this
Act.
(2) Where an application
has been made under sub-section (1) for the registration of a Trade Union, such
application shall not be deemed to have become invalid merely by reason of the
fact that, at any time after the date of the application, but before the
registration of the Trade Union, some of the applicants, but not exceeding half
of the total number of persons who made the application, have ceased to be members
of the Trade Union or have given notice in writing to the Registrar
dissociating themselves from the application.
5. Application for
registration.-
(1) Every application for
registration of a Trade Union shall be made to the Registrar, and shall be accompanied
by a copy of the rules of the Trade Union and a statement of the following
particulars, namely: -
- (a) the names, occupations and
addresses of the members making the application;
- (b) the name of the Trade Union
and the address of its head office; and
- (c) the titles, names, ages,
addresses and occupations of the office-bearers of the Trade Union.
(2) Where a Trade Union has
been in existence for more than one year before the making of an application
for its registration, there shall be delivered to the Registrar, together with
the application, a general statement of the assets and liabilities of the Trade
Union prepared in such form and containing such particulars as may be
prescribed.
6. Provisions to be
contained in the rules of a Trade Union.- A Trade Union shall not
be entitled to registration under this Act, unless the executive thereof is
constituted in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and the rules
thereof provide for the following matters, namely: -
- (a) the name of the Trade Union;
- (b) the whole of the objects for
which the Trade Union has been established;
- (c) the whole of the purposes for
which the general funds of the Trade Union shall be applicable, all of
which purposes shall be purposes to which such funds are lawfully applicable
under this Act;
- (d) the maintenance of a list of
the members of the Trade Union and adequate facilities for the inspection
thereof by the office-bearers and members of the Trade Union;
- (e) the admission of ordinary
members who shall be persons actually engaged or employed in an industry
with which the Trade Union is connected, and also the admission of the
number of honorary or temporary members as office-bearers required under
section 22 to form the executive of the Trade Union;
- (ee) the payment of a subscription
by members of the Trade Union which shall be not less than
twenty-five naye paise per month per member;
- (f) the conditions under which any
member shall be entitled to any benefit assured by the rules and under
which any fine or forfeiture may be imposed on the members;
- (g) the manner in which the rules
shall be amended, varied or rescinded;
- (h) the manner in which the
members of the executive and the other office-bearers of the Trade Union
shall be appointed and removed;
- (i) the safe custody of the funds
of the Trade Union, an annual audit, in such manner as may be prescribed,
of the accounts thereof, and adequate facilities for the inspection of the
account books by the office-bearers and members of the Trade Union; and
- (j) the manner in which the Trade
Union may be dissolved.
7. Power to call for
further particulars and to require alteration of name.-
(1) The Registrar may call
for further information for the purpose of satisfying himself that any
application complies with the provisions of section 5, or that the Trade Union
is entitled to registration under section 6, and may refuse to register the
Trade Union until such information is supplied.
(2) If the name under which
a Trade Union is proposed to be registered is identical with that by which any
other existing Trade Union has been registered or, in the opinion of the
Registrar, so nearly resembles such name as to be likely to deceive the public
or the members of either Trade Union, the Registrar shall require the persons
applying for registration to alter the name of the Trade Union stated in the
application, and shall refuse to register the Union until such alteration has
been made.
8. Registration.-The Registrar, on being satisfied that the Trade Union has
complied with all the requirements of this Act in regard to registration, shall
register the Trade Union by entering in a register, to be maintained in such
form as may be prescribed, the particulars relating to the Trade Union
contained in the statement accompanying the application for registration.
9. Certificate of
registration.- The Registrar, on
registering a Trade Union under section 8, shall issue a certificate of
registration in the prescribed form which shall be conclusive evidence that the
Trade Union has been duly registered under this Act.
10. Cancellation of
registration.- A certificate of
registration of a Trade Union may be withdrawn or cancelled by the Registrar -
- (a) on the application of the
Trade Union to be verified in such manner as may be prescribed, or
- (b) if the Registrar is satisfied
that the certificate has been obtained by fraud or mistake, or that the
Trade Union has ceased to exist or has wilfully and after notice from the
Registrar contravened any provision of this Act or allowed any rule to
continue in force which is inconsistent with any such provision, or has
rescinded any rule providing for any matter provision for which is
required by section 6:
Provided that not less than
two months' previous notice in writing specifying the ground on which it is
proposed to withdraw or cancel the certificate shall be given by the Registrar
to the Trade Union before the certificate is withdrawn or cancelled otherwise
than on the application of the Trade Union.
11. Appeal.-
(1) Any person aggrieved by
any refusal of the Registrar to register a Trade Union or by the withdrawal or
cancellation of a certificate of registration may, within such period as may be
prescribed, appeal, -
- (a) where the head office of the
Trade Union is situated within the limits of a Presidency-town, to the
High Court, or
- (b) where the head office is
situated in any other area, to such Court, not inferior to the Court of an
additional or assistant Judge of a principal Civil Court of original
jurisdiction, as the appropriate Government may appoint in this behalf for
that area.
(2) The appellate Court may
dismiss the appeal, or pass an order directing the Registrar to register the
Union and to issue a certificate of registration under the provisions of
section 9 or setting aside the order for withdrawal or cancellation of the
certificate, as the case may be, and the Registrar shall comply with such
order.
(3) For the purpose of an
appeal under sub-section (1) an appellate Court shall, so far as may be, follow
the same procedure and have the same powers as it follows and has when trying a
suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), and may direct by
whom the whole or any part of the costs of the appeal shall be paid, and such
costs shall be recovered as if they had been awarded in a suit under the said
Code.
(4) In the event of the
dismissal of an appeal by any Court appointed under clause (b) of sub-section
(1), the person aggrieved shall have a right of appeal to the High Court, and
the High Court shall, for the purpose of such appeal, have all the powers of an
appellate Court under sub-sections (2) and (3), and the provisions of those
sub-sections shall apply accordingly.
12. Registered office.- All communications and notices to a registered Trade Union may
be addressed to its registered office. Notice of any change in the address of
the head office shall be given within fourteen days of such change to the
Registrar in writing, and the changed address shall be recorded in the register
referred to in section 8.
13. Incorporation of
registered Trade Unions.- Every registered Trade
Union shall be a body corporate by the name under which it is registered, and
shall have perpetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire and
hold both movable and immovable property and to contract, and shall by the said
name sue and be sued.
14. Certain Acts not to
apply to registered Trade Unions.- The following Acts,
namely: -
- (a) The Societies Registration
Act, 1860 (21 of 1860),
- (b) The Co-operative Societies
Act, 1912 (2 of 1912),
- (c) The Companies Act, 1956 (1 of
1956);
shall not apply to any
registered Trade Union, and the registration of any such Trade Union under any
such Act shall be void.
CHAPTER III - RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES OF REGISTERED TRADE UNIONS
15. Objects on which
general funds may be spent.- The general funds of a
registered Trade Union shall not be spent on any other objects than the
following, namely: -
- (a) the payment of salaries,
allowances and expenses to office-bearers of the Trade Union;
- (b) the payment of expenses for
the administration of the Trade Union, including audit of the accounts of
the general funds of the Trade Union;
- (c) the prosecution or defence of
any legal proceeding to which the Trade Union or any member thereof is a
party, when such prosecution or defence is undertaken for the purpose of
securing or protecting any rights of the Trade Union as such or any rights
arising out of the relations of any member with his employer or with a
person whom the member employs;
- (d) the conduct of trade disputes
on behalf of the Trade Union or any member thereof;
- (e) the compensation of members
for loss arising out of trade disputes;
- (f) allowances to members or their
dependants on account of death, old age, sickness, accidents or unemployment
of such members;
- (g) the issue of, or the
undertaking of liability under, policies of assurance on the lives of
members, or under policies insuring members against sickness, accident or
unemployment;
- (h) the provision of educational,
social or religious benefits for members (including the payment of the
expenses of funeral or religious ceremonies for deceased members) or for
the dependants of members;
- (i) the upkeep of a periodical
published mainly for the purpose of discussing questions affecting employers
or workmen as such;
- (j) the payment, in furtherance of
any of the objects on which the general funds of the Trade Union may be
spent, of contributions to any cause intended to benefit workmen in
general, provided that the expenditure in respect of such contributions in
any financial year shall not at any time during that year be in excess of
one-fourth of the combined total of the gross income which has up to that
time accrued to the general funds of the Trade Union during that year and
of the balance at the credit of those funds at the commencement of that
year; and
- (k) subject to any conditions
contained in the notification, any other object notified by the
appropriate Government in the official Gazette.
16. Constitution of a
separate fund for political purposes.-
(1) A registered Trade
Union may constitute a separate fund, from contributions separately levied for
or made to that fund, from which payments may be made, for the promotion of the
civic and political interests of its members, in furtherance of any of the
objects specified in sub-section (2).
(2) The objects referred to
in sub-section (1) are: -
- (a) the payment of any expenses
incurred, either directly or indirectly, by a candidate or prospective
candidate for election as a member of any legislative body constituted
under the Constitution or of any local authority, before, during, or after
the election in connection with his candidature or election; or
- (b) the holding of any meeting or
the distribution of any literature or documents in support of any such
candidate or prospective candidate; or
- (c) the maintenance of any person
who is a member of any legislative body constituted under the Constitution
or of any local authority; or
- (d) the registration of electors
or the election of a candidate for any legislative body constituted under
the Constitution or for any local authority; or
- (e) the holding of political
meetings of any kind, or the distribution of political literature or
political documents of any kind.
(2A) In its application to
the State of Jammu and Kashmir, references in sub-section (2) to any
legislative body constituted under the Constitution shall be construed as
including references to the Legislature of that State.
(3) No member shall be
compelled to contribute to the fund constituted under sub-section (1); and a
member who does not contribute to the said fund shall not be excluded from any
benefits of the Trade Union, or placed in any respect either directly or
indirectly under any disability or at any disadvantage as compared with other
members of the Trade Union (except in relation to the control or management of
the said fund) by reason of his not contributing to the said fund; and
contribution to the said fund shall not be made a condition for admission to
the Trade Union.
17. Criminal conspiracy in
trade disputes.- No office-bearer or
member of a registered Trade Union shall be liable to punishment under
sub-section (2) of section 120B Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), in respect of
any agreement made between the members for the purpose of furthering any such
object of the Trade Union as is specified in section 15, unless the agreement
is an agreement to commit an offence.
18. Immunity from civil
suit in certain cases.-
(1) No suit or other legal
proceeding shall be maintainable in any Civil Court against any registered
Trade Union or any office-bearer; or member thereof in respect of any act done
in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute to which a member of the
Trade Union is a party on the ground only that such act induces some other
person to break a contract of employment, or that it is in interference with
the trade, business or employment of some other person or with the right of
some other person to dispose of his capital or of his labour as he wills.
(2) A registered Trade
Union shall not be liable in any suit or other legal proceeding in any Civil
Court in respect of any tortious act done in contemplation or furtherance of a
trade dispute by an agent of the Trade Union if it is proved that such person
acted without the knowledge of, or contrary to express instructions given by,
the executive of the Trade Union.
19. Enforceability of
agreements.- Notwithstanding anything
contained in any other law for the time being in force, an agreement between
the members of a registered Trade Union shall not be void or voidable merely by
reason of the fact that any of the objects of the agreement are in restraint of
trade:
Provided that nothing in
this section shall enable any Civil Court to entertain any legal proceeding
instituted for the express purpose of enforcing or recovering damages for the
breach of any agreement concerning the conditions on which any members of a
Trade Union shall or shall not sell their goods, transact business, work,
employ or be employed.
20. Right to inspect books
of Trade Union.- The account books of a
registered Trade Union and the list of members thereof shall be open to
inspection by an office-bearer or member of the Trade Union at such times as
may be provided for in the rules of the Trade Union.
21. Rights of minors to
membership of Trade Unions.- Any person who has
attained the age of fifteen years may be a member of a registered Trade Union
subject to any rules of the Trade Union to the contrary, and may, subject as
aforesaid, enjoy all the rights of a member and execute all instruments and
give all acquittances necessary to be executed or given under the rules.
21A. Disqualifications of
office-bearers of Trade Unions.-
(1) A person shall be
disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of the executive or
any other office-bearer of a registered Trade Union if -
- (i) he has not attained the age of
eighteen years,
- (ii) he has been convicted by a
Court in India of any offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced to
imprisonment, unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release.
(2) Any member of the
executive or other office-bearer of a registered Trade Union who, before the
commencement of the Indian Trade Unions (Amendment) Act, 1964 (38 of 1964), has
been convicted of any offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced to
imprisonment, shall on the date of such commencement cease to be such member or
office-bearer unless a period of five years has elapsed since his release
before that date.
(3) In its application to
the State of Jammu and Kashmir, reference in sub-section (2) to the
commencement of the Indian Trade Unions (Amendment) Act, 1964 (38 of 1964),
shall be construed as reference to the commencement of this Act in the said
State.
22. Proportion of office-bearers
to be connected with the industry.- Not less than one-half of
the total number of the office-bearers of every registered Trade Union shall be
persons actually engaged or employed in an industry with which the Trade Union
is connected:
Provided that the
appropriate Government may, by special or general order, declare that the
provisions of this section shall not apply to any Trade Union or class of Trade
Unions specified in the order.
23. Change of name.- Any registered Trade Union may, with the consent of not less
than two-thirds of the total number of its members and subject to the
provisions of section 25, change its name.
24. Amalgamation of Trade
Unions.- Any two or more registered Trade Unions may become
amalgamated together as one Trade Union with or without dissolution or division
of the funds of such Trade Unions or either or any of them, provided that the
votes of at least one-half of the members of each or every such trade Union
entitled to vote are recorded, and that at least sixty per cent of the votes
recorded are in favour of the proposal.
25. Notice of change of
name or amalgamation.-
(1) Notice in writing of
every change of name of every amalgamation, signed, in the case of a change of
name, by the Secretary and by seven members of the Trade Union changing its
name, and, in the case of an amalgamation, by the Secretary and by seven
members of each and every Trade Union which is a party thereto, shall be sent
to the Registrar, and where the head office of the amalgamated Trade Union is
situated in a different State, to the Registrar of such State.
(2) If the proposed name is
identical with that by which any other existing Trade Union has been registered
or, in the opinion of the Registrar, so nearly resembles such name as to be
likely to deceive the public or the members of either Trade Union, the
Registrar shall refuse to register the change of name.
(3) Save as provided in
sub-section (2), the Registrar shall, if he is satisfied that the provisions of
this Act in respect of change of name have been complied with, register the
change of name in the register referred to in section 8, and the change of name
shall have effect from the date of such registration.
(4) The Registrar of the
State in which the head office of the amalgamated Trade Union is situated
shall, if he is satisfied that the provisions of this Act in respect of
amalgamation have been complied with and that the Trade Union formed thereby is
entitled to registration under section 6, register the Trade Union in the
manner provided in section 8, and the amalgamation shall have effect from the
date of such registration.
26. Effects of change of
name and of amalgamation.-
(1) The change in the name
of a registered Trade Union shall not a affect any rights or obligations of the
Trade Union or render defective any legal proceeding by or against the Trade
Union, and any legal proceeding which might have been continued or commenced by
or against it by its former name may be continued or commenced by or against it
by its new name.
(2) An amalgamation of two
or more registered Trade Unions shall not prejudice any right of any of such
Trade Unions or any right of a creditor of any of them.
27. Dissolution.-
(1) When a registered Trade
Union is dissolved, notice of the dissolution signed by seven members and by
the Secretary of the Trade Union shall, within fourteen days of the
dissolution, be sent to the Registrar, and shall be registered by him if he is
satisfied that the dissolution has been effected in accordance with the rules
of the Trade Union, and the dissolution shall have effect from the date of such
registration.
(2) Where the dissolution
of a registered Trade Union has been registered and the rules of the Trade
Union do not provide for the distribution of funds of the Trade Union on
dissolution, the Registrar shall divide the funds amongst the members in such
manner as may be prescribed.
28. Returns.-
(1) There shall be sent
annually to the Registrar, on or before such date as may be prescribed, a
general statement, audited in the prescribed manner, of all receipts and
expenditure of every registered Trade Union during the year ending on the 31st
day of December next preceding such prescribed date, and of the assets and
liabilities of the Trade Union existing on such 31st day of December. The
statement shall be prepared in such form and shall comprise such particulars as
may be prescribed.
(2) Together with the
general statement there shall be sent to the Registrar a statement showing all
changes of office-bearers made by the Trade Union during the year to which the
general statement refers, together also with a copy of the rules of the Trade
Union corrected up to the date of the despatch thereof to the Registrar.
(3) A copy of every alteration
made in the rules of a registered Trade Union shall be sent to the Registrar
within fifteen days of the making of the alteration.
(4) For the purpose of
examining the documents referred to in sub-sections (1), (2) and (3), the
Registrar, or any officer authorised by him, by general or special order, may
at all reasonable times inspect the certificate of registration, account books,
registers, and other documents, relating to a Trade Union, at its registered
office or may require their production at such place as he may specify in this
behalf, but no such place shall be at a distance of more than ten miles from
the registered office of a Trade Union.
CHAPTER IV - REGULATIONS
29. Power to make
regulations.-
(1) The appropriate
Government may make regulations for the purpose of carrying into effect the
provisions of this Act.
(2) In particular and
without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such regulations
may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely: -
- (a) the manner in which Trade
Unions and the rules of Trade Unions shall be registered and the fees
payable on registration;
- (b) the transfer of registration
in the case of any registered Trade Union which has changed its head office
from one State to another;
- (c) the manner in which, and the
qualifications of persons by whom, the accounts of registered Trade Unions
or of any class of such Unions shall be audited;
- (d) the conditions subject to
which inspection of documents kept by Registrars shall be allowed and the
fees which shall be chargeable in respect of such inspections; and
- (e) any matter which is to be or
may be prescribed.
30. Publication of
regulations.-
(1) The power to make
regulations conferred by section 29 is subject to the condition of the
regulations being made after previous publication.
(2) The date to be
specified in accordance with clause (3) of section 23 of the General Clauses
Act, 1897 (10 of 1897), as that after which a draft of regulations proposed to
be made will be taken into consideration shall not be less than three months
from the date on which the draft of the proposed regulations was published for
general information.
(3) Regulations so made
shall be published in the Official Gazette, and on such publication shall have
effect as if enacted in this Act.
CHAPTER V - PENALTIES AND PROCEDURE
32. Supplying false
information regarding Trade Unions.- Any person who, with
intent to deceive, gives to any member of a registered Trade Union or to any
person intending or applying to become a member of such Trade Union any
document purporting to be a copy of the rules of the Trade Union or of any
alterations to the same which he knows, or has reason to believe, is not a
correct copy of such rules or alterations as are for the time being in force,
or any person who, with the like intent, gives a copy of any rules of an
unregistered Trade Union to any person on the pretence that such rules are the
rules of a registered Trade Union, shall be punishable with fine which may
extend to two hundred rupees.
31. Failure to submit
returns.-
(1) If default is made on
the part of any registered Trade Union in giving any notice or sending any
statement or other document as required by or under any provision of this Act,
every office-bearer or other person bound by the rules of the Trade Union to
give or send the same, or, if there is no such office-bearer or person every
member of the executive of the Trade Union, shall be punishable, with fine
which may extend to five rupees and, in the case of a continuing default, with
an additional fine which may extend to five rupees for each week after the
first during which the default continues:
Provided that the aggregate
fine shall not exceed fifty rupees.
(2) Any person who wilfully
makes, or causes to be made, any false entry in, or any omission from, the
general statement required by section 28, or in or from any copy of rules or of
alterations of rules sent to the Registrar under that section, shall be
punishable with fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
32. Supplying false
information regarding Trade Unions.- Any person who, with
intent to deceive, gives to any member of a registered Trade Union or to any
person intending or applying to become a member of such Trade Union any
document purporting to be a copy of the rules of the Trade Union or of any
alterations to the same which he knows, or has reason to believe, is not a
correct copy of such rules or alterations as are for the time being in force,
or any person who, with the like intent, gives a copy of any rules of an
unregistered Trade Union to any person on the pretence that such rules are the
rules of a registered Trade Union, shall be punishable with fine which may
extend to two hundred rupees.
33. Cognizance of offences.-
(1) No Court inferior to
that of a Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the first class shall try
any offence under this Act.
(2) No Court shall take
cognizance of any offence under this Act, unless complaint thereof has been
made by, or with the previous sanction of, the Registrar or, in the case of an
offence under section 32, by the person to whom the copy was given, within six
months of the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed.