Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is the Act that regulates the labour laws as it concerns all the workmen or all the people employed on the Indian mainland. It came into force on 1 April 1947. The capitalists or the employer and the workers always had a difference of opinion and thus, it leads to lots of conflicts among and within both of these groups. So, these issues were brought to the attention of the government and so they decided to pass this Act. This Act was formed with the main objective of bringing peace and harmony to industrial disputes between parties and solving their issues in a peaceful manner.
Scope and Object
This is an Act made for the examination and settlement of industrial disputes, and for different purposes too. This Act centers around any industry carried on by or under the authority of the Central Government, or by a railway organization or concerning any such controlled industry as might be indicated for this benefit by the Central Government.
Main features of the Act
This Act furnishes us with specific guidelines and guidelines in regards to the works committee for both the businesses and all the workmen to advance measures for good working relations and comprehension among the workmen and the businesses later on, and to end that, it additionally vows to resolve any material difference in views of opinion in regard to such issues.
Definition of Industrial Dispute
Industrial dispute implies any distinction of conclusion, contest, injury between the business and the representatives, or between the laborers and bosses, or between the labourers or workers itself which is all concerned with the work or non-business terms or terms of business dependent on the terms of state of work of any person.
Workman
The expression “workman” signifies any individual (counting a student or apprentice) who works in an industry who needs to do any manual, skilled/unskilled, incompetent, specialized, operational, administrative, supervisory and so forth work for contract or reward, regardless of whether the terms of business are communicated or inferred, and for motivations behind any procedure under this Act in connection to an industrial dispute, incorporates any person who has been expelled, released or saved regarding, or as an outcome of the case, or who’s rejection, release or conservation has prompted that dispute, however, does exclude any such individual-
- who is dependent upon the Air Force Act 1950, or the Army Act 1950, or the Navy Act 1957;
- who is employed in the police administration or as an official or other representative of a jail;
- who is employed primarily in an administrative or managerial limit.
An individual, being underemployed in a supervisory limit draws compensation surpassing Rs. 10000 for every month or activities, either by the idea of the obligations to the workplace or by reason of forces vested in him, works fundamentally of an administrative sort.
Lay-off
Layoff or “Cutback” signifies the refusal or lack of power to refuse, disappointment or failure of a business by virtue of lack of coal, power or crude material, etc. or the aggregation of stocks or the breakdown of apparatus to offer work to a workman whose name is on the muster rolls of his industrial foundation and who has not been retrenched.
Objectives of the Industrial Disputes Act
- To support measures for securing and preserving good relations between employers and employees.
- To provide suitable machinery for the equitable and peaceful settlement of industrial disputes.
- To prevent illegal strikes and lockouts.
- To afford relief to workers against layoffs, retrenchment, wrongful dismissal and victimisation.
- To promote collective bargaining.
- To improve the conditions of workers.
- To avoid unfair labour practices.
Features of the Act
- The act applies to entire India also includes the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
- It favours arbitration over the disputes between employers and workers.
- It affords for setting up of works committees as machinery for mutual discussion between employers and workers to promote friendly relation.
- The act paved the way for creating permanent conciliation machinery at various stages having definite time limits for conciliation and arbitration.
- This act emphasis on compulsory adjudication apart from the conciliation and voluntary arbitration of Industrial Disputes.
- The Act empowers the Government to refer the dispute to an appropriate authority, i.e., Labour Court, Industrial tribunal and National tribunal depending upon the nature of the dispute either on its own or on the request of the parties.
Authorities under the Act
Section 3: Works board of trustees
If there should be an occurrence in any industrial foundation wherein one hundred or more workers are employed in a day or in the previous year, the concerned government may be a general or an exceptional offer require the business to do in the endorsed way, a works advisory group comprising of delegates of representatives and workers occupied with the foundation so that the quantity of agents of workers on the Committee will not be not exactly the quantity of agents of the business. The delegates of the workers will be picked in the recommended way from among the workers occupied with the foundation and in counsel with their worker’s guild, assuming any, enrolled under the Indian Trade Unions Act.
It is the obligation of the works advisory group to advance proportions of verifying and saving great and serene relations between the businesses and the workers and the end that, to finalise upon the issues of their normal intrigue or attempt to make any material contrast out of perspectives in such issues.
Section 4: Conciliation Officer
The fitting government may, by seeing in the authority, name such people as it believes fit to be conciliation officials, delegated of the obligation of intervening and advancing the settlement of industrial audits.
An appeasement official might be designated for a predetermined zone or for explicit industries in a predefined region or for at least one explicit industry and either for all time or for a constrained period.
Section 5: Boards of Conciliation
- The reasonable Government may as an event emerges by notice in the Official Gazette speak to a Board of Conciliation for advancing the settlement of an industrial contest.
- A Board will incorporate an administrator and 2 or 4 unique individuals, as the Government thinks fit.
- The administrator will be an independent individual and along these lines, different individuals will be people delegated in equivalent numbers to speak to the party to the case and any individual selected to speak to a gathering will be designated on the proposal of that party:
- Given that, if any gathering neglects to make a suggestion as previously mentioned inside the endorsed time, the fitting Government will select such people if it thinks they’re fit to speak to that party. A Board, having the recommended majority, may act despite the nonattendance of the administrator or any of its individuals or any opening in its number, given that if the appropriate Government tells the Board that the administrations of the executive or of some other part have been stopped to be accessible, the Board will not Act till a substitute director or part, by and large, has been designated.
Section 6: Courts of Inquiry
- The proper Government may as an event emerges, by notice in the official journal comprise a court of value for enquiring into some other issue seeming, by all accounts, to be associated with or applicable to an industrial contest.
- A court may comprise of one free individual or number of such autonomous people as suitable Government may think fit and where a court comprises of at least two individuals, one of them will be named as the executive chairman.
- A court, having the endorsed majority, may dispute the nonappearance of the executive chairman or any of its individuals or any kind of vacancy in its number.
Section 7: Labor Court
- The proper Government may, by warning in the official journal, add to at least one industrial councils for the settling of industrial disputes and identifying with any issue, regardless of whether indicated in the subsequent calendar or the 3rd schedule.
- A court should comprise of just a single individual designated by the appropriate government.
- An individual will not be equipped for arrangement as the directing official of a council except if he is, or has been a judge of the high court or has been a vice president labour commissioner (central) or joint chief of the state work office, having a degree in law.
Anand Bazar Patrika v. Their Employees
This case was between the Anand Bazar Patrika Pvt. Ltd, the appellant and between the workers, the respondent. This issue was about a person, Gupta, who’s retirement was against the service conditions of the company. The court also held the decision against the appellant that Gupta was a workman on the day of his retirement and thus, the award was given against the appellant.
Awaz Prakashan Private Ltd. v. Pramod Kumar Pujari
In the case Awaz Prakashan Private ltd. vs Pramod Kumar Pujari, the appellant was running a printing press and was publishing newspapers by the name of ‘Awaz’. So, as per the words of the appellant, he said that he closed the publication and stopped the printing of the newspaper and thus he retrenched the workman from services as of 1st July 1989. The responded contended that his retrenchment was not complying with the provisions in the Industrial disputes Act, 1947.
Section 7-A: Tribunals
The reasonable government may, by warning in the official newspaper, establish at least one industrial courts for the mediation of industrial disputes identifying with any issue, regardless of whether indicated in the subsequent calendar or the third schedule. A council will comprise of one individual just to be selected by the corporate Government.
Section 7-B: National councils
The government at the centre may, by warning in the official gazette comprise at least one national industrial Tribunal for the settling of industrial disputes which, in the assessment of the government at the centre, including inquiries of national significance or are of such a nature, that industrial foundations arranged in more than one state are probably going to be keen on, or influenced by, such disputes.
- A national council will comprise of just a single individual that will be named by the government at the centre.
- An individual will not be equipped for arrangement as the directing official of a national council, except if he is or has been a judge of the High Court.
- The government at the centre may, if it thinks so fit select two people as assessors to encourage national council in the procedure before it.
Section 7-C: Disqualifications for the managing workplaces of work courts, tribunals and national tribunals
No individual will be designated to, or proceed in the workplace of the managing official of a work Court, council or national court if –
- He isn’t an autonomous individual.
- He hasn’t achieved the age of 65 years.
Section 10-A: Voluntary references to disputes to the discretion
There any industrial case exists or is captured and the business and the workman consent to allude the question to mediation, they may whenever before the contest. It has been alluded to under Section 10 to a work Court or council or national court by a composed understanding, allude to the question to discretion and the differential to be such an individual or people (counting the managing officials of a work Court or council or national council) as a judge as might be determined in the assertion understanding.
Section 11: Procedure, Powers and Duties of Authorities
Notice to enter premises
An appeasement official or an individual from the board, may with the end goal of an investigation into any current or captured industrial dispute, in the wake of giving sensible notice, enter the premises involved by any foundation to which the question relates.
Production of documents before Tribunals
An appeasement official may implement the participation of any individual with the end goal of assessment of such individual or call for and review any archive which he has ground for considering to be important to the industrial question.
Cost
The council, national council or work courts, all things considered, will have full capacity to decide by who and whom and to what degree and subject to what conditions, assuming any, such expenses must be paid, and to give every single essential bearing for the reasons previously mentioned and such expenses may, on application made to the fitting government by the individual entitled, can be recovered by that legislature in a similar way as an arrear of land income.
Granting of adjournments
A bench of judges in the national tribunal, courts, labour courts, tribunals will grant the adjournment notice to the respective parties.
Powers of the Tribunal
Each board, court, work court, council and the national council have the power will have similar forces vested in a common court under common court of procedure, 1908, when attempting to document a suit, in regard of the accompanying issues specifically
- Authorizing the participation of an individual and inspecting him on vow
- Convincing the creation of reports and material objects
- Giving commissions for the assessment of witness
In regard of such different issues as might be endorsed; and each request or examination by a board, court, work court, council or national court, will be esteemed to be a legal proceeding inside the Sections 193 and 228 of the Indian penal code (45 and 1860).
Fixation of wage structure
He who draws compensation and works of supervisory limit, he draws compensation surpassing 1600 for each month or Activities, either commonly of obligations connected to him by the workplace or by the power vested in him, works basically of an administrative sort.
Retirement age on account of industrial workers
Retirement of the workman on arriving at the time of superannuation if the contract between the business and the worker comprises of a stipulation for that sake.
Incentive Payment Scheme
Incentives are given to those who are wrongfully terminated of the services.
Jurisdiction to decide the dispute in respect of closure of factory
Courts can also resolve disputes in the cases of closure of factory based on all of the right facts as regardless of the closure of the factory as an individual or a party’s right must be served.
Power of the Tribunal to interfere with the Action taken by the management
Tribunal can also interfere with anything wrong done by the management only under court supervision.
Award of Industrial Tribunal
The award of the tribunal should only be in writing and only be signed by the presiding officer.
Power of Labour Court
The labour court may by the notification given in the official gazette, shall decide industrial disputes by adjudication according to the second schedule.
Finding of fact by Labour Court
A labour court can also find the facts by formal investigation.
FAQs
What is the Industrial Disputes Act?
The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, is an Indian legislation aimed at resolving disputes between employers and employees. It provides a legal framework for addressing conflicts related to employment conditions, wages, layoffs, and other industrial relations issues.
What types of disputes are covered under the Industrial Disputes Act?
- Disputes related to wages and salary.
- Issues concerning layoffs, retrenchments, and dismissals.
- Disagreements about working conditions and hours.
- Conflicts regarding union recognition and workers’ rights.