Page 201 - DMGT306_MERCANTILE_LAWS_II

Mercantile Laws – II

Notes 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.

Did u know? Court of Inquiry may be constituted for inquiring about matter appearing to
be connected with or relevant to an I.D. The court may consist of one or more independent
persons. It has to submit its report within six months on the matter referred to Units.
(Sec. 6).

10.4.2 Voluntary Arbitration

When Conciliation Officer or Board of Conciliation fails to resolve conflict/dispute, parties can
be advised to agree to voluntary arbitration for settling their dispute. For settlement of differences
or conflicts between two parties, arbitration is an age old practice in India. The Panchayat
system is based on this concept. In the industrial sphere, voluntary arbitration originated at
Ahmedabad in the textile industry under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi. Provision for it was
made under the Bombay Industrial Relations Act by the Bombay Government along with the
provision for adjudication, since this was fairly popular in the Bombay region in the 40s and 50s.
The Government of India has also been emphasizing the importance of voluntary arbitration’
for settlement of disputes in the labour policy chapter in the first three plan documents, and has
also been advocating this step as an essential feature of collective bargaining. This was also
incorporated in the Code of Discipline in Industry adopted at the 15th Indian Labour Conference
in 1958. Parties were enjoined to adopt voluntary arbitration without any reservation. The
position was reviewed in 1962 at the session of the Indian Labour Conference where it was
agreed that this ‘step would be the normal method after conciliation effort fails, except when the
employer feels that for some reason he would prefer adjudication. In the Industrial Trade
Resolution also which was adopted at the time of Chinese aggression, voluntary arbitration was
accepted as a must in all matters of disputes. The Government had thereafter set up a National
Arbitration Board for making the measure popular in all the states, and all efforts are being
made to sell this idea to management and employees and their unions.

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