Central amendment to Industrial Disputes Act cannot be relied upon in cases where only State amendment will apply, rules Madras High Court

Madras High Court rules Labour Courts cannot reject disputes based on Central amendment's limitation period, favoring State amendment.

The Madras High Court has ruled that Labour Courts cannot reject industrial disputes by relying upon the limitation period prescribed under a Central amendment to the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 even in cases where the State amendment alone should be made applicable.

Justice A.D. Maria Clete traced the history of the I.D. Act and said initially, individual workmen were unable to approach Labour courts and they were dependant on the trade unions to raise an industrial dispute which had to be dealt with by a Conciliation Officer at the first instance.

If the Conciliation Officer ends up submitting a negative report due to the failure to reach a consensus between the management and the employee, then the Central government or the State government, depending upon their jurisdiction, was given the prerogative to refer the dispute to the Labour Court.

In 1965, Parliament amended the I.D. Act permitting an individual workman too to raise an industrial dispute. However, still, the individual workmen had to undergo the regular process of approaching the Conciliation Officer first and then obtaining a reference from the government concerned.

“Even after the introduction of this process, both State and Central governments, on multiple occasions, refused to refer several disputes for adjudication. To address this issue, the Tamil Nadu Legislature enacted the Industrial Disputes (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 1981,” Justice Clete said.

She pointed out the State amendment, which received the President’s assent in 1988, permitted an aggrieved individual workman to directly approach the Labour Court, on submission of a negative report by the Conciliation Officer, without expecting a reference from the government.

Even after the State amendment, the old procedure continued to be applicable to industries which fell under the jurisdiction of the Centre. “However, the Tamil Nadu amendment, being a progressive legislative measure, was subsequently adopted by other States including Andhra Pradesh,” the judge observed.