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Unit 5: Industrial Disputes Act

5.3 Authorities under this Act Notes

Following are the Authorities under the Industrial Disputes Act:

1. Works Committee: 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).

Notes 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 endeavour to
compose any material difference of opinion in respect of such matters.

2. Conciliation officers: The appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official
Gazette, appoint such number of persons as it thinks fit, to be conciliation officers, charged
with the duty of mediating in and promoting the settlement of industrial disputes. A
conciliation officer may be appointed for a specified area or for specified industries in
a specified area or for one or more specified industries and either permanently or for a
limited period.
3. Boards of Conciliation: The appropriate Government may as occasion arises by notification
in the Official Gazette constitute a Board of Conciliation for promoting the settlement of an
industrial dispute. A Board shall consist of a chairman and two or four other members, as
the appropriate Government thinks fit. The chairman shall be an independent person and
the other members shall be persons appointed in equal numbers to represent the parties
to the dispute and any person appointed to represent a party shall be appointed on the
recommendation of that party:
Provided that, if any party fails to make a recommendation as aforesaid within the
prescribed time, the appropriate Government shall appoint such persons as it thinks fit to
represent that party.
A Board, having the prescribed quorum, may act notwithstanding the absence of the
chairman or any of its members or any vacancy in its number:
Provided that if the appropriate Government notifies the Board that the services of the
chairman or of any other member have ceased to be available, the Board shall not act until
a new chairman or member, as the case may be, has been appointed.
4. Courts of Inquiry: The appropriate Government may as occasion arises by notification in
the Official Gazette constitute a Court of Inquiry for inquiring into any matter appearing
to be connected with or relevant to an industrial dispute. A court may consist of one
independent person or of such number of independent persons as the appropriate
Government may think fit and where a court consists of two or more members, one of
them shall be appointed as the chairman. A court, having the prescribed quorum, may act
notwithstanding the absence of the chairman or any of its members or any vacancy in its
number:

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