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Unit 5: Industrial Disputes Act

A settlement arrived at by agreement between the management and workers or their unions Notes
outside conciliation proceedings are binding only on the parties to the agreement. (Section 18).

Board of Conciliation
This is a higher forum which is constituted for a specific dispute. It is not a permanent institution
fake the Conciliation Officer, The Government may, as occasion arises, constitute a Board of
Conciliation for settlement of an industrial dispute with an independent chairman and equal
representatives of the parties concerned as its members. . The chairman, who is appointed by the
Government, is to be a person unconnected with the dispute or with any industry directly affected
by such dispute. Other members are to be appointed on the recommendations of the parties
concerned; and if any party fails to make recommendation, the Government shall appoint such
persons as it thinks fit to represent that party. The Board cannot admit a dispute in conciliation on
its own. It can act only when reference is made to it by the Government. (Section 5).

Notes As soon as a dispute is referred to a Board, it has to endeavour to bring about
a settlement of the same. For this purpose, it has to investigate the dispute and all matters
affecting the merits and right settlement thereof, for the purpose of inducing the parties to
come to a fair and amicable settlement. Procedure followed by the Board in this regard is
almost the same as adopted by the conciliation officers. The Board is, however, required to
submit its report within two months of the date on which the dispute was referred to it, or
within such short period as the Government may fix in this behalf. The proceedings before
the Board are to be held in public, but the Board may at any stage direct that any witness
shall be examined or proceedings shall be held in camera.

If a settlement is arrived at, a report with a copy of the settlement is submitted, to the Government.
If the Board fails to bring about settlement, a report is submitted to the Government stating
the facts and circumstances, the steps taken, reasons for failure along with its findings. After
considering its findings the Government may refer the dispute for voluntary arbitration if both
the parties to the dispute agree for the same, or for Adjudication to Labour Court or Industrial
Tribunal or National Tribunal. There period of submission of report may be extended by the
Government beyond two months as agreed upon by the parties in writing. A member of the Board
may record any minute of dissent from the report, or from any recommendation made therein.
With the minute of dissent the report shall be published by, the Government within thirty days
from the receipt thereof. A Board of Conciliation can only try to bring about a settlement. It has
no power to impose a settlement on the parties to the dispute. The Board has the power of a Civil
Court for, (i) enforcing the attendance of any person and examining on oath; (ii) compelling the
production of documents and material objects; (iii) issuing commissions for the examination of
witnesses. The enquiry or investigation by the Board is regarded as judicial proceedings.
The Boards of conciliation are rarely appointed by the Government these days. The original
intention was that major disputes should be referred to a Board and minor disputes shout be
handled by the conciliation officers. In practice, however, it was found that when the Parties
to the dispute could not come to an agreement between themselves, their representatives on
the Board in association with independent chairman (unless latter had the role of an umpire or
arbitrator), could rarely arrive at a settlement. The much more flexible procedure followed by
the conciliation officer is found to be more acceptable. This is more so when disputes relate to a
whole industry, or important issues, and a senior officer of the Industrial Relations Machinery,
i.e. a senior officer of the Directorate of Labour, is entrusted with the work of conciliation.
The Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) or Labour Commissioner of the State Government
generally intervene themselves in conciliation when important issues form the subject matters
of the dispute.

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