‘INDUSTRIAL

DISPUTE’
INDUSTRIAL
INDUSTRY
DISPUTE
EMPLOYER
WORKMAN
 DEFINITION
Section 2(k), Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
[IR Code: Section 2(q)]

ANY DISPUTE OR
DIFFERENCE
EMPLOYMENT

NON-EMPLOYMENT
BETWEEN
TERMS OF
EMPLOYMENT

EMPLOYERS AND WORKMEN AND CONDITIONS OF

EMPLOYERS AND WORKMEN WORKMEN LABOUR
EMPLOYERS [IR Code: [IR Code:
WORKERS] WORKERS]
OF ANY PERSON
Assam Chah Karmachari Sangh v Management of Dimakuchi Tea
Estate
AIR 1958 SC 353
■ Supreme Court held - the expression " any person " occurring in the third part of the
definition clause cannot mean anybody and everybody in this wide world.
■ A dispute to be a real dispute must be one in which the parties to the dispute have a direct or
substantial interest.
TESTS LAID DOWN
1. The dispute must be a real dispute, capable of settlement or adjudication by one party to the
dispute giving necessary relief to the other.
2. The person in respect of whom the dispute is raised must be one in whose employment, non-
employment, terms of employment, or conditions of labour (as the case may be), the parties
to the dispute have a direct or substantial interest, and this must depend on the facts and
circumstances of each particular case.
Appeal Dismissed.
 Workmen of Dahingeapar Tea Estate v Dahingeapar Tea Estate
1960 II LLJ 498 SC

DAHINGEAP NIKHLI JUTE

AR TEA BALING
COMPANY COMPANY
Court held that in future the workers of the purchaser
might face a similar fate, if the company is sold off to
another. Hence, ‘workmen who raised the dispute, as a
class have a direct and substantial interest’.
Workmen as a class have common interest, even though
the workers whose cause they are espousing are
Option of taking such discharged workers.
members of the staff in Thus, dispute raised is an industrial dispute.
its absolute discretion it
considers useful and
sufficient for running the
tea estate. Fresh
appointment.
 Standard Vacuum Refining Co. of India v Their Workmen
AIR 1960 SC 948

Court held that the dispute in the present case was an industrial dispute within the
meaning of s. 2(k) because
(i) The respondents had a community of interest with the workmen of the contractor,
(ii) They had a substantial interest in-the subject-matter of the dispute in the sense that
the class to which they belonged, namely, workmen, was substantially affected
thereby
(iii) The company could give relief in the matter.
 OTHER CASES

■ Newspapers Ltd. v Industrial Tribunal (1957) II LLJ 1 SCC

Union of another State cannot take up the individual cause of a workman from another State
■ Bombay Union of Journalists v The Hindu AIR 1963 SC 318
Dispute must be supported by an appreciable number
■ Workmen of Dharampal Premchand v M/s Dharampal Premchand AIR 1966 SC 182
Overruled the Bombay Union of Journalists Case. Held Any association can take up the cause of a workman
■ Rameshwar Manjhi v Management of Sangramgarh Colliery AIR 1994 SC 1176
Industrial dispute survives when the workman concerned dies during its pendency
■ J H Jadhav v M/s Forbes Gokak Ltd. (2005) 3 SCC 202
Individual dispute raised was an industrial dispute even if the workman was neither supported by a substantial number
of workmen nor by a majority union.
■ Prabhakar v Joint Director, Sericulture Dept. & ors. AIR 2016 SC 2984
If the workman, has acquiesced into the act of the employer (as in this case terminating his services and, therefore,
accepted his termination), he cannot after a lapse of several years make a demand and then convert it into a 'dispute'
what had otherwise become a buried issue.
 ‘DEEMED DISPUTE’
Section 2 A
[IR Code: No independent section. Included under S. 2(q)]
■ Individual dispute deemed to be an industrial dispute
■ Inserted through Amendment in 1965
DISPUTE OR
DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN
WORKMAN AND
EMPLOYER

MATTER

OTHERWISE
DISCHARGE DISMISSAL RETRENCHMENT
TERMINATION
 SECTION 2A
■ 2010 amendment - Inserted sub-section (2)

MATTER • Labour Court/ Tribunal shall

REFERRED TO
CONCILIATION adjudicate as though the
OFFICER dispute was referred by the
appropriate government.
NOT SETTLED
• All the provisions of regular
OR NOT industrial dispute shall apply.
SATISFIED • Application to be made before
WITH RESULT
expiry of 3 years from date of
discharge/dismissal/retrenchm
AFTER EXPIRY
OF 3 MONTHS ent/termination.
FROM THE
DATE OF
APPLICATION

DIRECT
APPLICATION
TO LABOUR
COURT/
TRIBUNAL FOR
ADJUDICATION
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 2(k) AND 2A
SECTION SECTION
2(k) 2A

COLLECTIVE INDIVIDUAL

CAUSE CAN BE
WORKMAN ALONE
ESPOUSED BY TRADE
CAN RAISE A
UNION OR OTHER
DISPUTE
WORKMEN

DISPUTE MUST BE
NO REFERNCE
REFERRED BY THE
REQUIRED
GOVERNMENT

RELATED TO ANY
MATTER OF
EMPLOYMENT, NON-
EMPLOYMENT, RELATED TO LIMITED
TERMS OF ISSUES ONLY
EMPLOYMENT OR
CONDITIONS OF
LABOUR