INTRODUCTION

Trade unions are associations of workers or organization formed together by labour, workers or employees
to achieve their demands for better conditions at their work atmosphere. A labor union, or trade union, is an
organization of workers who have joined together to achieve goals in areas such as wages and working
conditions. The union negotiates contracts and conditions with employers, keeping employee satisfaction
high and protecting workers from unsafe or unfair working conditions.

These unions exist to deal with problems faced by laborers, these problems maybe of any nature such as
those concerning the pay, unfair work rules, timings and so on. All the workers working under one particular
employer is represented by the worker's union. All the communication that happens in between the employer
and the workforce generally takes place through the union. All of the above trade unions are also liable and
responsible for maintaining discipline and among the workers, core purpose is to see that proper relations or
being maintained in between management and workers and trade union may take disciplinary action against
the workers who ever misbehaves, disturbed peace and harmony in the workplace and maintenance
indiscipline.

Trade unions or labour unions are governed by the different law in different countries, they should follow
the procedure and mode of registration for formation of the trade union according to the law of the country.
Trade union formed in accordance with the law of their country shall have the privileges given by the law of
trade union.With privileges or rights of the trade union, it should perform certain duties with respect to
workers.
The Primary purpose of a trade union is collective bargaining. In India trade unions can be formed only the
persons engaged in trade or business can form trade unions.

Every registered trade union according to the law of trade union shall have certain functions for achievement
of certain objectives which are mentioned in details further. The primary object you of the trade union is to
protect the interests of the workers and exploitation against him by Management or employer. In addition to
this, it is the responsibility and duty of every trade union to support management for its functioning and
contribute to organisation or company by way of encouraging workers in a positive way for the
improvement of overall efficiency of organisation.

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 DEFINITION OF TRADE UNIONS

According to Webbs, a trade union is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of
maintaining and improving the conditions of their working lives. Under the Trade Union Act of 1926, the
term is defined as any combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily for the purpose of
regulating the relations between workers and employers, or for imposing restrictive conditions on the
condition of any trade or business and includes any federation of two or more unions. Let us examine the
definition in parts.

Trade union is an association either of employees or employers or of independent workers.

It is a relatively permanent formation of workers. It is not a temporary or casual combination of
workers.
It is formed for securing certain economic (like better wages, better working and living conditions),
social (such as educational, recreational, medical, respect for individual) benefits to members.
Collective strength offers a sort of insurance cover to members to fight against irrational, arbitrary
and illegal actions of employers. Members can share their feelings, exchange notes and fight the
employer quite effectively whenever he goes off the track1.

In India trade union has been defined under Trade union Act 1926, Section 2(h) Trade Union means
any combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily for the purpose of regulating the
relations between workmen and employers or between workmen and workmen, or between employers
and employers, or for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or business, and
includes any federation of two or more Trade Unions:
Provided that this Act shall not affect
(i) any agreement between partners as to their own business;
(ii) any agreement between an employer and those employed by him as to such employment; or
(iii) any agreement in consideration of the sale of the goodwill of a business or of instruction in
any profession, trade or handicraft.
As said in the case of Rangaswami v. Registrar of Trade Unions, AIR 1962 Mad 231 only the persons
engaged in trade or business can form trade unions and as given in the case of Bank of India Employees'
Association V. Reserve Bank of India , (1983) 2 LLN 872 (Bom) the primary purpose of a trade union is
collective bargaining

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 REGISTRAR OF TRADE UNION

A registrar is a person who keeps an official record of registering union or is in charge of keeping the official
record. He can also be an officer of a corporation responsible for maintaining records of ownership of its
securities.

Registrar

According to section 2(f) "Registrar" means

(i) a Registrar of Trade Unions appointed by the appropriate Government under section 3, and includes any
Additional or Deputy Registrar of Trade Unions; and
(ii) in relation to any Trade Union, the Registrar appointed for the State in which the head or registered
office, as the case may be, of the Trade Union is situated.

Appointment of Registrar

According to section 3. Appointment of Registrars.-

(1) The appropriate Government shall appoint a person to be the Registrar of Trade Unions for 3*[each
State].
(2) The appropriate Government may appoint as many Additional and Deputy Registrars of Trade Unions as
it thinks fit for the purpose of exercising and discharging, under the superintendence and direction of the
Registrar, such powers and functions of the Registrar under this Act as it may, by order, specify and define
the local limits within which any such Additional or Deputy Registrar shall exerciseand discharge the
powers and functions so specified.
(3) Subject to the provisions of any order under sub-section (2),where an Additional or Deputy Registrar
exercises and discharges the powers and functions of a Registrar in an area within which the registered office
of a Trade Union is situated, the Additional or Deputy Registrar shall be deemed to be the Registrar in
relation to the Trade Union for the purposes of this Act.
The Registrar has power to enquire about the legality of the new election of the office-bearers of a Trade
Union; Mohan Lal v. Registrar of Trade Unions, 1983 Lab IC 1883

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 REGISTRATION OF TRADE UNIONS

Mode of Registration

According to section 4 Mode of Registration

(1) Any seven or more members of a Trade Union may, by subscribing their names to the rules of the
Trade Union and by otherwise complying with the provisions of this Act with respect to registration,
apply for registration of the Trade Union under this Act.
(2) Where an application has been made under sub-section (1) for the registration of a Trade Union, such
application shall not be deemed to have become invalid merely by reason of the fact that, at any time
after the date of the application, but before the registration of the Trade Union, some of the
applicants, but not exceeding half of the total number of persons who made the application, have
ceased to be members of the Trade Union or have given notice in writing to the Registrar dissociating
themselves from the application.

Application for Registration

According to section 5 Application for Registration

(1) Every application for registration of a Trade Union shall be made to the Registrar and shall be
accompanied by a copy of the rules of the Trade Union and a statement of the following particulars,
namely:-
a) the names, occupations and address of the members making application;
b) the name of the Trade Union and the address of its head office; and
c) the titles, names, ages, addresses and occupations of the 3[office-bearers] of the Trade Union.
(2) Where a Trade Union has been in existence for more than one year before the making of an
application for its registration, there shall be delivered to the Registrar, together with the application,
a general statement of the assets and liabilities of the Trade Union prepared in such form and
containing such particulars as may be prescribed.

Rules of a Trade Union

According to section 6 Provisions to be contained in the rules of a Trade Union

A Trade Union shall not be entitled to registration under this Act, unless the executive thereof is
constituted in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and the rules thereof provide for the following
matters, namely:-

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 a) the name of the Trade Union
b) the whole of the objects for which the Trade Union has been established;
c) the whole of the purposes for which the general funds of the Trade Union shall be applicable, all of
which purposes shall be purposes to which such funds are lawfully applicable under this Act;
d) the maintenance of a list of the members of the Trade Union and adequate facilities for the inspection
thereof by the 1[office-bearers] and members of Trade Union;
e) the admission of ordinary members who shall be persons actually engaged or employed in an
industry with which the Trade Union is connected, and also the admission of the number of honorary
or temporary members as 1[office bearers ] required under section 22 to form the executive of the
Trade Union;

ee) the payment of a subscription by members of the Trade Union which shall be not less than twenty-
five naye paise per month per member;

f) the conditions under which any member shall be entitled to any benefit assured by the rules and
under which any fine or forfeiture may be imposed on the members:
g) the manner in which the rules shall be amended, varied or rescinded;
h) the manner in which the members of the executive and the other 1[office-bearers] of the Trade union
shall be appointed and removed;
i) the safe custody of the funds of the Trade Union, an annual audit, in such manner as may be
prescribed, of the accounts thereof, and adequate facilities for the inspection of the account books by
the 1[office-bearers] and members of the Trade Union; and
j) the manner in which the Trade Union may be dissolved.

Power to call for further particulars and to require alternations of names

According to section 7 Power to call for further particulars and to require alternations of names

1) The Registrar may call for further information for the purpose of satisfying himself that any
application complies with the provisions of section 5, or that the Trade Union is entitled to
registration under section 6, and may refuse to register the Trade Union until such information is
supplied.
2) If the name under which a Trade Union is proposed to be registered is identical with that by which
any other existing Trade Union has been registered or, in the opinion of the Registrar, so nearly
resembles such name as to be likely to deceive the public or the members of either Trade Union, the
Registrar shall require the persons applying for registration to alter the name of the Trade Union
stated in the application, and shall refuse to register tile Union until such alteration has been made.

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 Registration

According to Section 8 Registration

The Registrar, on being satisfied that the Trade Union has complied with all the requirements of this Act in
regard to registration, shall register the Trade Union by entering in a register, to be maintained in such form
as may be prescribed the particulars relating to the Trade Union contained in the statement accompanying
the application for registration.

The Registrar is not a quasi-judicial authority and cannot, therefore, decide any disputed question of fact or
law; O.N.G.C. Workmen's Association v. State of West Bengal , (1988) 57 FLR 522 (Cal).

Provisions of this section relate to only registration of a trade union, It is only a Civil Court which has
jurisdiction to decide that dispute since under the Trade Unions Act. There is no provision permitting or
empowering the Registrar to refer internal disputes relating to office-bearer for adjudication to any other
forum: R.N. Singh v. State of Bihar , 1998 LLR 645.

Certificate of Registration

According to section 9 Certificate of Registration

The Registrar, on registering a Trade Union under section 8, shall issue a certificate of registration in the
prescribed form which shall be conclusive evidence that the Trade Union has been duly registered under this
Act.

The registration gives a stamp of due formation of the Trade Union and assures the mind of the employer
that the Trade Union is an authenticated body. The names and occupation of whose office-bearers also
become known; Food Corporation of India Staff Union v Food Corporation of India, 1995 LLR 309 (SC) 3
JJ.

Registration office
According to section 12 Registration office

All communications and notices to a registered Trade Union may be addressed to its registered office. Notice
of any change in the address of the head office shall be given within fourteen days of such change to the
Registrar in writing and the changed address shall be recorded in the register referred to in section 8.

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 CANCELATION OF REGISTRATION OF TRADE UNION

Section 10 of the Trade Union Act, 1926 deals with the cancelation of registration of Trade Union. It says
that :-

A certificate of registration of a Trade Union may be withdrawn or cancelled by the Registrar-

a) on the application of the Trade Union to be verified in such manner as may be prescribed;
b) if the Registrar; is satisfied that the certificate has been obtained by fraud or mistake or that the Trade
Union has ceased to exist or has wilfully and after notice from the Registrar contravened any
provision of this Act or allowed any rule to continue in force which is inconsistent with any such
provision or has rescinded any rule providing for any matter provision for which is required by
section 6:
Provided that not less than two months previous notice in writing specifying the ground on which it
is proposed to withdraw or cancel the certificate shall be given by the Registrar to the Trade Union
before the certificate is withdrawn or cancelled otherwise than on the application of the Trade Union.

The Order of cancellation of registration of Trade Union passed by the Registrar without hearing the Union
is violative of principles of natural justice and illegal, hence liable to be quashed; Nagda Rashtra Sevak
Karamchari Congress v. Industrial Court, 1997 (77) FLR 139.

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 APPEAL FOR WITHDRAWAL OF CANCELLATION OF
REGISTRATION OF TRADE UNION

Section 11 generalises for the appeal of withdrawal of cancellation of registration of Trade Union. It says
that:-

1) Any person aggrieved by any refusal of the Registrar to register a Trade Union or by the withdrawal
or cancellation of a certificate of registration may, within such period as may be prescribed, appeal
a) where the head office of the Trade Union is situated within the limits of a Presidency town to the
High Court, or
b) where the head office is situated in any area, to such Court, not inferior to the Court of an
additional or assistant Judge of a principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction as the
3[Appropriate Government] may appoint in this behalf for that area.
2) The appellate court may dismiss the appeal, or pass an order directing the Registrar to register the
Union and to issue a certificate of registration under the provisions of section 9 or setting aside the
order or withdrawal or cancellation of the certificate, as the case may be, and the Registrar shall
comply with such order.
3) For the purpose of an appeal under sub-section (1) an appellate court shall, so far as may be, follow
the same procedure and have the same power as it follows and has when trying a suit under the Code
of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), and may direct by whom the whole or any part of the costs of
the appeal shall be paid, and such costs shall be recovered as if they had been awarded in a suit under
the said Code.
4) In the event of the dismissal of an appeal by any court appointed under clause (b) of sub-section (1)
the person aggrieved shall have a right of appeal to the High Court, and the High Court shall, for the
purpose of such appeal, have all the powers of an appellate court under sub-sections (2) and (3), and
the provisions of those sub-sections shall apply accordingly.

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 CASE STUDY

Mukand Iron & Steel Works Ltd. vs V.G. Deshpande Registrar Of Trade
1986
Equivalent citations: 1987 (1) BomCR 286, 1986 (52) FLR 367, (1986) IILLJ 290 Bom
Bench: S Bharucha

FACTS

1. On 11th August, 1983 the Additional Registrar of Trade Unions informed the Rashtriya Mukand
Employee's Union (the 2nd respondent that he had on 10th August, 1983 cancelled its registration on
the ground that it had contravened the provisions of Section 28 of the Trade Union Act by failing to
send an annual return
2. Mukand Iron & Steel Works Ltd., (the petitioners) have a factory at Kalwe in the district of Thane.
The 2nd respondent was the recognised trade union representing workmen at the Kalwe factory. The
2nd respondent was until 10th August, 1983 registered as a trade union under the provisions of the
Trade Unions Act,
3. On 11th August, 1983 the Additional Registrar informed the 2nd respondent that he had cancelled its
registration on the ground that, after due notice from the Registrar, it had continued wilfully to
contravene the provisions of S. 28 of the Act and Rule 17 of the Bombay Trade Unions Regulations
in that it had failed to send to the Registrar by the prescribed date the annual general statement of
accounts in the prescribed annual return form for the year ending 31st December, 1981, which was
required under the said section to be sent annually to the Registrar.
4. It is the case of the 2nd respondent that the notice referred to in the letter dated 11th August, 1983
had not been received by it for it was operating from premises other than the address registered with
the Registrar.
5. On 17th August, 1984 the 2nd respondent wrote to the Registrar, enclosing the annual return of for
the year ended 31st December, 1981, and requested him to "withdraw the cancellation letter".
6. On 17th August 1984 the 2nd respondent wrote to the Registrar stating that audit for the year 1982
was in progress and expressing the hope that it would be in a position file the annual returns for the
year 1982 by 25th August, 1984. The letter requested condonation of delay.
7. On 18th August, 1984 the Registrar wrote to the 2nd respondent thus : "with reference to y our letters
dated 17-8-84 and 18-8-84 together with the Annual Returns of your union for the year ending 31st
December 1981 and 1982 requesting for the restoration of the registration of your union, I have to
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state that this office letter No. CL/TUA/1181/Cancellation/By-II-D/ 7108 dated 11-8-83 is hereby
withdrawn as the Union has complied with provisions of Trade Unions Act, 1926, by submitting the
necessary annual returns."

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 ISSUE

Whether the Registrar had the power to withdraw the cancellation of the
registration?

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 RATIO
The said Act was enacted to provide for the registration of trade unions and in certain respects to define the
law relating to registered trade unions. A trade union is defined under Section 2(h) to mean any combination,
whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily for the purpose of regulating the relations between
workmen and employers or between workmen and workmen, or between employers and employers, or for
imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or business, and includes any federation of two
or more trade unions. A registered trade union is defined by section 2(e) to be a trade Union registered under
the said Act. Section 8 provides that the Registrar, on being satisfied that a trade union has complied with all
the requirements of the said Act in regard to registration, shall register the trade union by entering in a
register, to be maintained in such form as may be prescribed, the particulars relating to the trade union
contained in the statement accompanying the application for registration. Under Section 9 the Registrar is
enjoined, on registering a trade union under Section 8, to issue a certificate of registration in the prescribed
form which would be conclusive evidence that the trade union had been duly registered under the said Act.
The certificate of registration of a trade union may, under Section 10, be withdrawn or cancelled by the
Registrar inter alia if the Registrar is satisfied that the trade union, after notice from the Registrar, has
wilfully contravened any provision of the said Act, provided that not less than two months' previous notice
in writing specifying the ground on which it was proposed to withdrawal or cancel the certificate had been
given by the Registrar to the trade union. Any person aggrieved by the refusal of Registrar to register a trade
union or by the withdrawal or cancellation of a certificate of registration may, under Section 11, appeal.
Where the head office of the trade union is situated within the limits of a Presidency town the appeal lies to
the High Court. The appellate court may dismiss the appeal, or it may pass an order directing the Registrar to
register the trade union and to issue a certificate of registration, or it may set aside the order of withdrawal or
cancellation. The Registrar is obliged to comply with such order. For the purposes of the appeal, the
appellate court is obliged, so far as may be, to follow the same procedure and has the same powers as it
follows and has when trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure. Where the head office of the trade
union is not situated within the limits of a Presidency town, the appeal lies to a court subordinate to the High
Court and, in the event of its dismissal, persons aggrieved have the right of appeal to the High Court. Section
12 deals with the registered office of a trade union and requires notice of any change in the address thereof
to be given within 14 days of such change to the Registrar in writing so that the changed address can be
recorded in the register. Every registered trade union is, by virtue of the provisions of Section 13, a body
corporate of the name under which it is registered, and has perpetual succession and a common seal with
power to acquire and hold both movable and immovable property and to contract, and can by the said name
sue and be sued. Section 28 deals with the returns to be sent annually to the Registrar. It requires that a
general statement audited in the prescribed manner of all receipts and expenditure of every registered trade
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union during the calendar year next preceding such prescribed date shall be sent to the Registrar. Section 31
provides for the penalties that may be imposed upon the trade union's office bearers if default is made by the
trade union in sending any statement or document required by the provisions of the said Act.

Mr. Desai, learned counsel for the petitioners, submitted, having regard to the powers of the Registrar under
the said Act, that, plainly, the Registrar had no power to withdraw the cancellation of the registration of the
2nd respondent.
Mr. Deshmukh relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in Grindlays Bank v. The Central
Government Industrial Tribunal [1981-I L.L.J. 327]

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 JUDGEMENT
The principles laid down in Grindlay Bank's case (supra) can have no application to the present case. In the
first place, it must be noted that the Registrar purported to withdraw the cancellation not because prior notice
of such cancellation had not been served on the 2nd respondent, as Mr. Deshmukh strenuously argued, but,
in terms, because it had, subsequent to the cancellation, submitted the annual returns. The order withdrawing
the cancellation was, therefore, in no sense an order made to correct an abuse. In the second place, the 2nd
respondent had a remedy against the order in that it could appeal there against or apply for fresh registration.
The order was, therefore, in no sense necessary exbedito justitiae. Thirdly, the order was passed relying upon
events that had occurred subsequent to the cancellation.
Mr. Deshmukh pointed out that the cancellation had been intimated to the 2nd respondent on 11th August, 1983 by
the Additional Registrar of Trade Unions while the withdrawal of the cancellation had been effected by the Registrar
of Trade Unions. He pointed out that under Section 3(2) the Additional Registrar discharged the powers and
functions of the Registrar under the superintendence and direction of the Registrar. In Mr. Deshmukh's submission,
the order of withdrawal dated 18th August 1984 was passed by the Registrar in exercise of his power of
superintendence. A bare reading of the letter dated 18th August 1984 makes it clear that it was passed not in
exercise of any powers of superintendence but because the 2nd respondent had by then filed the annual returns.

Mr. Deshmukh said that the cancellation that had been effected on 10th August, 1983 had been effected only
by drawing a line across the entry relating to the 2nd respondent in the register maintained by the Registrar.
The registration certificate of the 2nd respondent remained with it and was conclusive evidence of
registration under Section 9. By virtue of Section 10, no cancellation could be effected except in the manner
thereunder prescribed. In Mr. Deshmukh's submission, there had, therefore, been no valid cancellation of the
2nd respondent's registration.

The validity of the cancellation is not in issue here. I must proceed in this petition upon the basis that the 2nd
respondent's registration was validly cancelled.
Mr. Deshmukh's last submission was that the court's discretionary power under Article 226 should not be
exercised in favour of the petitioners because the cancellation of the 2nd respondent's registration had been
effected without following the prescribed procedure, in that it had not been addressed the notice that is a pre-
condition of deregistration at its then address. It appears that this address had not been communicated to the
Registrar as is required by the said Act to be entered in the register, but that some communications from the
Registrar had been addressed to the 2nd respondent at this address.
Where a party is aggrieved by an order of cancellation, and I assume the 2nd respondent was so aggrieved, it
has remedies in the form of an appeal and in the form of an application for fresh registration. The 2nd

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respondent has not invoked these remedies. It cannot then be said that the powers under Section 226 should
not be exercised because the cancellation of the 2nd respondent's registration had been effected improperly.
Then, to sum up, the Registrar cancels or withdraws the registration of a trade union, it has the option to
appeal or to apply for fresh registration. If the appeal succeeds the order of cancellation or withdrawal of
recognition could be held to be bad ab initio and the trade union would continue on the register as if that
order has not been passed. If a fresh registration is permitted it would operate from the date thereof. Once the
Registrar cancels or withdraws the registration of a trade union he had no power left qua that order. He has
no power to review it. He certainly has no power to withdraw it because of subsequent events.
In the result, the petition must succeed and it is made absolute in terms of prayer (a).

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 CONCLUSION

There of as my topic of the project state that the appeal granted by the decision of the registrar is limited and
as the case study I have made, we can see that we can make an appeal within the period prescribed, to the
High Court or the appellate court

As going through the case we can see that there was cancellation of the registration of of Rashtriya Mukund
Employees union which was done by the additional registrar by sending an application regarding the non
submission of the annual return for the year ending 31st December 1981 which contravened Section 28 of
Trade Union Act as well as Rule 17 of Bombay Trade Union Regulation. After getting the due notice from
the registrar office the union submitted the annual return and prayed for the withdrawal of the cancellation of
the registration.

The registrar after getting the annual return withdrew the cancellation of the registration, but there is no rule
stating that the registrar can withdraw the cancellation.

There was a provision regarding the cancellation to be done by the registrar, only after the order given by the
court by making an appeal to the court by the union, but the appeal was not made.

Hence we can say that that the appeal granted by the decision of the registrar is limited.

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