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TRADE UNIONS ACT, 1926
16 of 1926
An Act to provide for the registration of Trade Unions and in certain respects to define the law relating to registered Trade Unions 2[* * *] 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;2[* * *]; it is hereby enacted as follows:-
CHAPTER 01: PRELIMINARY
SECTION 01: SHORT TITLE, EXTENT AND COMMENCEMENT
(1) This Act may be called 1[***] the Trade Unions Act, 1926.
3[(2) It extends to the whole of India 4[* * *],]
(3) It shall come into-force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
SECTION 02: DEFINITIONS
In this Act5-6["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)7[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:
8-9[(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 considerations of the sale of the goodwill of a business or of instruction in any profession, trade or handicraft.
SECTION 03: APPOINTMENT OF REGISTRARS
10[(1)]11[The appropriate Government] shall appoint a person to be the Registrar of Trade Unions for12[each State].
13[(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.]
SECTION 04: MODE OF REGISTRATION
14[(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.
"Provided that no Trade Union of workmen shall be registered unless at least ten per cent or one hundred of the workmen, whichever is less, engaged or employed in the establishment or industry with which it is connected are the members of such Trade Union on the date of making of application for registration : Provided further that no Trade Union of workmen shall be registered unless it has on the date of making application not less than seven persons as its members, who are workmen engaged or employed in the establishment or industry with which it is connected.".
15[(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.]
SECTION 05: 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;
zza
["(ad) in the case of a Trade Union of workmen, the names, occupations and addresses of the place of work of the members of the Trade Union 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 16[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.
SECTION 06: 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 the16[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 connect- ed, and also the admission of the number of honorary or temporary members as17[office-bearers] required
Under section 22-to form the executive of the Trade Union;
["(ee) the payment of a minimum subscription by members of the, Trade Union which shall not be less man—
(i) one rupee per annum for. rural workers;
(ii) three rupees per annum for workers in other unorganised sectors; and (iii) twelve rupees per annum for workers in any other ease;";]
(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;
zzc["(hh) the duration of period being not more than three years, for which the members of the executive and other office-bearers of the Trade Union shall be elected;".]
(h) the manner in which the members of the executive and the other18[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 the18[office-bearers]and members of the Trade Union ; and
(j) the manner in which the Trade Union may be dissolved.
SECTION 07: POWER TO CALL FOR FURTHER PARTICULARS AND TO REQUIRE ALTERATION OF NAMES
(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.
SECTION 08: 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.
SECTION 09: 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.
SECTION 09A: MINIMUM REQUIREMENT ABOUT MEMBERSHIP OF A TRADE UNION
A registered Trade Union of workmen shall at all times continue to have not less than ten per cent or one hundred of the workmen, whichever is less, subject to a minimum of seven, engaged or employed in an establishment or industry with which it is connected, as its members.".
SECTION 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 provisions 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.
zze["(c) if the Registrar is satisfied that a registered Trade Union of workmen ceases to have the requisite number of members."]
SECTION 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 -town20[* * *], to the High Court, or
zzf["(aa) where the head office is situated in an area, falling within the jurisdiction of a Labour Court or an Industrial Tribunal, to that
Court or Tribunal, as the case may be;".]
(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 the21[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.]
SECTION 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-
SECTION 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.
SECTION 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)-,
22[* * *]
23[(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.
SECTION 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 to24[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 sick- ness, accident or unemployment;
(h) the provisions 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;
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