Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

This Act may be called the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

(2) It extends to the whole of India.

"Industrial dispute" means any dispute or difference between employers and

employers, or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and
workmen, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or
the terms of employment or with the conditions of labour, of any person;

 DEFINITIONS. - In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or
context, - (a) "appropriate Government" means - (i) in relation to any industrial
disputes concerning any industry carried on by or under the authority of the Central
Government or by a railway company or concerning any such controlled industry as
may be specified in this behalf by the Central Government or in relation to an industrial
dispute concerning Dock Labour Board established under section 5-A of the Dock
Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948 (9 of 1948), or the Industrial Finance
Corporation of India Limited formed and registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1
of 1956), or the Employees' State Insurance Corporation established under section 3 of
the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 (34 of 1948), or the Board of Trustees
constituted under section 3-A of the Coal Mines Provident Fund and Miscellaneous
Provisions Act, 1948 (46 of 1948), or the Central Board of Trustees and the State
Boards of Trustees constituted under section 5-A and section 5-B, respectively, of the
Employees' Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (19 of 1952), or the
Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956 (31 of 1956), or the Oil and Natural Gas
Corporation Limited registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), or the
Deposit Insurance and Credit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation established
under section 3 of the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961
(47 of 1961), or the Central Warehousing Corporation established under section 3 of
the Warehousing Corporations Act, 196 (58 of 1962), or the Unit Trust of India
established under section 3 of the Unit Trust of India Act, 1963 (52 of 1963), or the
Food Corporation of India established under section 3, or a Board of Management
established for two or more contiguous States under section 16 of the Food
Corporations Act, 1964 (37 of 1964), or the Airports Authority of India constituted
under section 3 of the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994 (55 of 1994), or a Regional
Rural Bank established under section 3 of the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976 (21 of
1976), or the Export Credit and Guarantee Corporation Limited or the Industrial
Reconstruction Corporation of India Limited, or the National Housing Bank established
under section 3 of the National Housing Bank Act, 1987 (53 of 1987) or the Banking
Service Commission established under section 3 of the Banking Service Commission
Act, 1975, or an air transport service, or a banking or an insurance company, a mine,
an oil-field, a Cantonment Board or a major port, the Central Government; and

(ii) in relation to any other industrial dispute, the State Government;

(aa) "arbitrator" includes an umpire;

(aaa) "average pay" means the average of the wages payable to a workman - (i) in the
case of monthly paid workman, in the three complete calendar months,

(ii) in the case of weekly paid workman, in the four complete weeks,

(iii) in the case of daily paid workman, in the twelve full working days, preceding the
date on which the average pay becomes payable if the workman had worked for three
complete calendar months or four complete weeks or twelve full working days, as the
case may be, and where such calculation cannot be made, the average pay shall be
calculated as the average of the wages payable to a workman during the period he
actually worked;

(b) "award" means an interim or a final determination of any industrial dispute or of

any question relating thereto by any Labour Court, Industrial Tribunal or National
Industrial Tribunal and includes an arbitration award made under section 10A;

(bb) "banking company" means a banking company as defined in section 5 of the

Banking Companies Act, 1949 (10 of 1949), having branches or other establishments in
more than one State, and includes the Export-Import Bank of India, the Industrial
Reconstruction Bank of India; the Industrial Development Bank of India, the Small
Industries Development Bank of India established under section 3 of the Small
Industries Development Bank of India Act, 1989 (39 of 1989) the Reserve Bank of
India, the State Bank of India, a corresponding new bank constituted under section 3 of
the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1969, a
corresponding new bank constituted under section 3 of the Banking Companies
(Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, a corresponding new bank
constituted under section 3 of the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of
Undertakings) Act, 1980, and any subsidiary bank, as defined in the State Bank of
India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959 (38 of 1959);

(c) "Board" means a Board of Conciliation constituted under this Act;

(cc) "closure" means the permanent closing down of a place of employment or part
thereof;

(d) "conciliation officer" means a conciliation officer appointed under this Act;

(e) "conciliation proceeding" means any proceeding held by a conciliation officer or

Board under this Act;

(ee) "controlled industry" means any industry the control of which by the Union has
been declared by any Central Act to be expedient in the public interest;

(f) "Court" means a Court of Inquiry constituted under this Act;

(g) "employer" means - (i) in relation to an industry carried on by or under the

authority of any department of the Central Government or a State Government, the
authority prescribed in this behalf, or where no authority is prescribed, the head of the
department;
(ii) in relation to an industry carried on by or on behalf of a local authority, the chief
executive officer of that authority;

(gg) 'executive', in relation to a trade union, means the body by whatever name called,
to which the management of the affairs of the trade union is entrusted;

(h) (i) a person shall be deemed to be "independent" for the purpose of his
appointment as the chairman or other member of a Board, Court or Tribunal, if he is
unconnected with the industrial dispute referred to such Board, Court or Tribunal or
with any industry directly affected by such dispute :

Provided that no person shall cease to be independent by reason only of the fact that
he is a shareholder of an incorporated company which is connected with, or likely to be
affected by, such industrial dispute; but in such a case, he shall disclose to the
appropriate Government the nature and extent of the shares held by him in such
company;

(j) "industry" means any systematic activity carried on by co-operation between an

employer and his workmen (whether such workmen are employed by such employer
directly or by or through any agency, including a contractor) for the production, supply
or distribution of goods or services with a view to satisfy human wants or wishes (not
being wants or wishes which are merely spiritual or religious in nature), whether or not,
- (i) any capital has been invested for the purpose of carrying on such activity; or

(ii) such activity is carried on with a motive to make any gain or profit, and includes -
(a) any activity of the Dock Labour Board established under section 5A of the Dock
Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948 (9 of 1949);

(b) any activity relating to the promotion of sales or business or both carried on by an
establishment, but does not include - (1) any agricultural operation except where such
agricultural operation is carried on in an integrated manner with any other activity
(being any such activity as is referred to in the foregoing provisions of this clause) and
such other activity is the predominant one.

Explanation : For the purposes of this sub-clause, "agricultural operation" does not
include any activity carried on in a plantation as defined in clause (f) of section 2 of the
Plantations Labour Act, 1951 (69 of 1951); or

(2) hospitals or dispensaries; or

(3) educational, scientific, research or training institutions; or

(4) institutions owned or managed by organizations wholly or substantially engaged in

any charitable, social or philanthropic service; or

(5) khadi or village industries; or

(6) any activity of the Government relatable to the sovereign functions of the
Government including all the activities carried on by the departments of the Central
Government dealing with defence research, atomic energy and space; or

(7) any domestic service; or

(8) any activity, being a profession practised by an individual or body of individuals, if

the number of persons employed by the individuals or body of individuals in relation to
such profession is less than ten; or

(9) any activity, being an activity carried on by a co-operative society or a club or any
other like body of individuals, if the number of persons employed by the co-operative
society, club or other like body of individuals in relation to such activity is less than ten;

(k) "industrial dispute" means any dispute or difference between employers and
employers, or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen,
which is connected with the employment or non-employment or the terms of
employment or with the conditions of labour, of any person;

(ka) "industrial establishment or undertaking" means an establishment or undertaking

in which any industry is carried on :

Provided that where several activities are carried on in an establishment or undertaking

and only one or some of such activities is or are an industry or industries, then, - (a) if
any unit of such establishment or undertaking carrying on any activity, being an
industry, is severable from the other unit or units of such establishment or undertaking,
such unit shall be deemed to be a separate industrial establishment or undertaking;

(b) if the predominant activity or each of the predominant activities carried on in such
establishment or undertaking or any unit thereof is an industry and the other activity or
each of the other activities carried on in such establishment or undertaking or unit
thereof is not severable from and is, for the purpose of carrying on, or aiding the
carrying on of, such predominant activity or activities, the entire establishment or
undertaking or, as the case may be, unit thereof shall be deemed to be an industrial
establishment or undertaking;

(kk) "insurance company" means an insurance company as defined in section 2 of the

Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938), having branches or other establishments in more than
one State;

(kka) "khadi" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (d) of section 2 of the Khadi and
Village Industries Commission Act, 1956 (61 of 1956);

(kkb) "Labour Court" means a Labour Court constituted under section 7;

(kkk) "lay-off" (with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions) means the
failure, refusal or inability of an employer on account of shortage of coal, power or raw
materials or the accumulation of stocks or the break-down of machinery or natural
calamity or for any other connected reason to give employment to a workman whose
name is borne on the muster-rolls of his industrial establishment and who has not been
retrenched;
Explanation : Every workman whose name is borne on the muster-rolls of the industrial
establishment and who presents himself for work at the establishment at the time
appointed for the purpose during normal working hours on any day and is not given
employment by the employer within two hours of his so presenting himself shall be
deemed to have been laid off for that day within the meaning of this clause :

Provided that if the workman, instead of being given employment at the

commencement of any shift for any day is asked to present himself for the purpose
during the second half of the shift for the day and is given employment, then, he shall
be deemed to have been laid off only for one half of that day :

Provided further that if he is not given any such employment even after so presenting
himself, he shall not be deemed to have been laid off for the second half of the shift for
the day and shall be entitled to full basic wages and dearness allowance for that part of
the day;

(l) "lock-out" means the temporary closing of a place of employment or the suspension
of work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ any number of persons
employed by him;

(la) "major-port" means a major port as defined in clause (8) of section 3 of the Indian
Ports Act, 1908 (15 of 1908);

(lb) "mine" means a mine as defined in clause (j) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the
Mines Act, 1952 (35 of 1952);

(ll) "National Tribunal" means a National Industrial Tribunal constituted under section
7B;

(lll) "office bearer", in relation to a trade union, includes any member of the executive
thereof, but does not include an auditor;

(m) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(n) "public utility service" means - (i) any railway service or any transport service for
the carriage of passengers or goods by air;

(ia) any service in, or in connection with the working of, any major port or dock;

(ii) any section of an industrial establishment, on the working of which the safety of the
establishment or the workmen employed therein depends;

(iii) any postal, telegraph or telephone service;

(iv) any industry which supplies power, light or water to the public;

(v) any system of public conservancy or sanitation;

(vi) any industry specified in the First Schedule which the appropriate Government
may, if satisfied that public emergency or public interest so requires, by notification in
the Official Gazette, declare to be a public utility service for the purposes of this Act, for
such period as may be specified in the notification :

Provided that the period so specified shall not, in the first instance, exceed six months
but may, by a like notification, be extended from time to time, by any period not
exceeding six months, at any one time, if in the opinion of the appropriate
Government, public emergency or public interest requires such extension;

(o) "railway company" means a railway company as defined in section 3 of the Indian
Railways Act, 1890 (9 of 1890);

(oo) "retrenchment" means the termination by the employer of the service of a

workman for any reason whatsoever, otherwise than as a punishment inflicted by way
of disciplinary action, but does not include - (a) voluntary retirement of the workman;
or

(b) retirement of the workman on reaching the age of superannuating if the contract of
employment between the employer and the workman concerned contains a stipulation
in that behalf; or

(bb) termination of the service of the workman as a result of the non-removal of the
contract of employment between the employer and the workman concerned on its
expiry or of such contract being terminated under a stipulation in that behalf contained
therein; or

(c) termination of the service of a workman on the ground of continued ill-health;

(p) "settlement" means a settlement arrived at in the course of conciliation proceeding

and includes a written agreement between the employer and workmen arrived at
otherwise than in the course of conciliation proceeding where such agreement has been
signed by the parties thereto in such manner as may be prescribed and a copy thereof
has been sent to an officer authorised in this behalf by the appropriate Government and
the conciliation officer;

(q) "strike" means a cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any industry
acting in combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under a common
understanding, of any number of persons who are or have been so employed to
continue to work or to accept employment;

(qq) "trade union" means a trade union registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1926
(16 of 1926);

(r) "Tribunal" means an Industrial Tribunal constituted under section 7-A and includes
an Industrial Tribunal constituted before the 10th day of March, 1957, under this Act;

(ra) "unfair labour practice" means any of the practices specified in the Fifth Schedule;

(rb) "village industries" has the meaning assigned to it in clause (h) of section 2 of the
Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act, 1956 (61 of 1956);

(rr) "wages" means all remuneration capable of being expressed in terms of money,
which would, if the terms of employment, expressed or implied, were fulfilled, be
payable to a workman in respect of his employment, or of work done in such
employment, and includes - (i) such allowances (including dearness allowance) as the
workman is for the time being entitled to;

(ii) the value of any house accommodation, or of supply of light, water, medical
attendance or other amenity or of any service or of any confessional supply of food
grains or other articles;

(iii) any traveling concession;

(iv) any commission payable on the promotion of sales or business or both; but does
not include - (a) any bonus;

(b) any contribution paid or payable by the employer to any pension fund or provident
fund or for the benefit of the workman under any law for the time being in force;

(c) any gratuity payable on the termination of his service;

(s) "workman" means any person (including an apprentice) employed in any industry to
do any manual, unskilled, skilled, technical, operational, clerical or supervisory work for
hire or reward, whether the terms of employment be express or implied, and for the
purposes of any proceeding under this Act in relation to an industrial dispute, includes
any such person who has been dismissed, discharged or retrenched in connection with,
or as a consequence of, that dispute, or whose dismissal, discharge or retrenchment
has led to that dispute, but does not include any such person - (i) who is subject to the
Air Force Act, 1950 (45 of 1950), or the Army Act, 1950 (46 of 1950), or the Navy Act,
1957 (62 of 1957); or

(ii) who is employed in the police service or as an officer or other employee of a prison;
or

(iii) who is employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity; or

(iv) who, being employed in a supervisory capacity, draws wages exceeding one
thousand six hundred rupees per mensem or exercises, either by the nature of the
duties attached to the office or by reason of the powers vested in him, functions mainly
of a managerial nature.

2A. DISMISSAL, ETC., OF AN INDIVIDUAL WORKMAN TO BE DEEMED TO BE

AN INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE. -Where any employer discharges, dismisses,
retrenches or otherwise terminates the services of an individual workman, any
dispute or difference between that workman and his employer connected with, or
arising out of, such discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or termination shall be
deemed to be an industrial dispute notwithstanding that no other workman nor any
union of workmen is a party to the dispute.

WORKS COMMITTEE. - (1) In the case of any industrial establishment in which one
hundred or more workmen are employed or have been employed on any day in the
preceding twelve months the appropriate Government may by general or special order
require the employer to constitute in the prescribed manner a Works Committee consisting
of representatives of employers and workmen engaged in the establishment so however
that the number of representatives of workmen on the Committee shall not be less than the
number of representatives of the employer.

The representatives of the workmen shall be chosen in the prescribed manner from among
the workmen engaged in the establishment and in consultation with their trade union, if
any, registered under the Indian Trade Unions Act, 1926 (16 of 1926).

(2) It shall be the duty of the Works Committee to Promote measures for securing and
preserving amity and good relations between the employer and workmen and, to that end,
to comment upon matters of their common interest or concern and endeavor to compose
any material difference of opinion in respect of such matters.

DEFINITIONS:

"industry" means any systematic activity carried on by co-operation between an

employer and his workmen (whether such workmen are employed by such employer directly
or by or through any agency, including a contractor) for the production, supply or
distribution of goods or services with a view to satisfy human wants or wishes (not being
wants or wishes which are merely spiritual or religious in nature), whether or not, - (i) any
capital has been invested for the purpose of carrying on such activity; or

(ii) such activity is carried on with a motive to make any gain or profit, and includes - (a)
any activity of the Dock Labour Board established under section 5A of the Dock Workers
(Regulation of Employment) Act, 1948 (9 of 1949);

(b) any activity relating to the promotion of sales or business or both carried on by an
establishment, but does not include - (1) any agricultural operation except where such
agricultural operation is carried on in an integrated manner with any other activity (being
any such activity as is referred to in the foregoing provisions of this clause) and such other
activity is the predominant one.

Explanation : For the purposes of this sub-clause, "agricultural operation" does not include
any activity carried on in a plantation as defined in clause (f) of section 2 of the Plantations
Labour Act, 1951 (69 of 1951); or

(2) hospitals or dispensaries; or

(3) educational, scientific, research or training institutions; or

(4) institutions owned or managed by organizations wholly or substantially engaged in any

charitable, social or philanthropic service; or

(5) khadi or village industries; or

(6) any activity of the Government relatable to the sovereign functions of thes Government
including all the activities carried on by the departments of the Central Government dealing
with defence research, atomic energy and space; or

(7) any domestic service; or

(8) any activity, being a profession practised by an individual or body of individuals, if the
number of persons employed by the individuals or body of individuals in relation to such
profession is less than ten; or

(9) any activity, being an activity carried on by a co-operative society or a club or any other
like body of individuals, if the number of persons employed by the co-operative society, club
or other like body of individuals in relation to such activity is less than ten;

(k) "industrial dispute" means any dispute or difference between employers and employers,
or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which is
connected with the employment or non-employment or the terms of employment or with
the conditions of labour, of any person;