Which one of the following is not a right provided to a registered Trade Union under Chapter III of the Trade Unions Act, 1926 ?

Correct — D, (d) Making changes in the employment contract through an act done in contemplation of a trade dispute. The booklet sets 'not' in bold italic, and this is the one option that does not correspond to anything Chapter III of the Trade Unions Act, 1926 confers.

Chapter III is headed 'Rights and Liabilities of Registered Trade Unions' and runs from section 15 to section 28. Three of the four options map onto a section of it; this one does not.

What section 18(1) actually gives is an IMMUNITY FROM SUIT, and its words are precise: 'No suit or other legal proceeding shall be maintainable in any Civil Court against any registered Trade Union or any office-bearer or member thereof in respect of any act done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute to which a member of the Trade Union is a party ON THE GROUND ONLY that such act induces some other person to break a contract of employment, or that it is in interference with the trade, business or employment of some other person or with the right of some other person to dispose of his capital or of his labour as he wills.'

Read that against option (d). The section protects a union from being sued when its action INDUCES A BREACH of a contract of employment. It does not empower a union to ALTER a contract of employment, and no provision in Chapter III does. Terms of employment change by agreement between the parties, by a settlement or an award under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, or by a notice of change under section 9A of that Act read with its Fourth Schedule — never by the unilateral act of a trade union in contemplation of a dispute. An immunity from liability for inducing a breach and a power to rewrite the bargain are different things, and the option describes the second while borrowing the language of the first.

The other three are each a provision of Chapter III, and the distractor notes below identify them. Being clear about which section each maps to is the whole of the work on this item.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)Constitution of a separate fund for political purposes — This IS a right under Chapter III — section 16, headed 'Constitution of a separate fund for political purposes'. A registered trade union may constitute a separate fund, from contributions separately levied for or made to that fund, from which payments may be made for the promotion of the civic and political interests of its members, in furtherance of the objects listed in sub-section (2): the expenses of a candidate for election to a legislative body or local authority; the holding of meetings or distribution of literature in support of such a candidate; the maintenance of a person who is a member of such a body; the registration of electors or the selection of a candidate; and the holding of political meetings or the distribution of political literature. The safeguards are what make it a separate fund — section 16(3) makes contribution to it voluntary, and section 16(4) forbids any member being excluded from benefits, or placed under a disability, for refusing to contribute. Note the contrast with section 15, which lists the objects the GENERAL funds may be spent on and does not include political purposes at all.
• (b)Giving membership to a person aged 17 years — This IS permitted under Chapter III — section 21, headed 'Rights of minors to membership of Trade Unions', provides that 'any person who has attained the age of fifteen years may be a member of a registered Trade Union subject to any rules of the Trade Union to the contrary, and may, subject as aforesaid, enjoy all the rights of a member and execute all instruments and give all acquittances necessary to be executed or given under the rules.' A person of seventeen is above the statutory floor of fifteen, so admitting him is within the section. Do not confuse this with section 21A, which is a different age rule for a different purpose: a person is disqualified from being chosen as, or from remaining, an office-bearer of a registered trade union if he has not attained the age of eighteen years. Fifteen to be a member, eighteen to hold office.
• (c)Committing a tortious act in contemplation of a trade dispute, by an agent of the Trade Union, without the knowledge of the executive of Trade Union — This IS a protection under Chapter III, though it is stated from the union's point of view rather than the statute's. Section 18(2) provides that 'a registered Trade Union shall not be liable in any suit or other legal proceeding in any Civil Court in respect of any tortious act done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute by an agent of the Trade Union if it is proved that such person acted without the knowledge of, or contrary to express instructions given by, the executive of the Trade Union.' So where an agent commits a tort outside the executive's knowledge, the union escapes vicarious liability — which is precisely the situation the option describes. The immunity is conditional, since the burden of proving the agent's want of authority lies on the union, and it is worth reading beside section 17, which gives a corresponding protection in the criminal law by exempting office-bearers and members from punishment for criminal conspiracy under section 120B of the Indian Penal Code in respect of agreements to further trade-union objects, unless the agreement is one to commit an offence.

Chapter III of the Trade Unions Act, 1926 is the part that makes registration worth having. Section 13 gives a registered trade union corporate status — perpetual succession, a common seal, power to contract and to hold property, and the capacity to sue and be sued. Section 15 then confines the general funds to a closed list of objects: salaries and allowances of office-bearers, administration and audit, legal proceedings to protect the union's or a member's rights, the conduct of trade disputes, compensation for loss arising out of a trade dispute, allowances to members or their dependants on death, old age, sickness, accident or unemployment, insurance and educational or social benefits, publication of a periodical, and any other object notified by the appropriate Government. Section 16 creates the separate political fund, with contribution voluntary and non-contributors protected from disability. Sections 17 and 18 supply the immunities that are the union's central legal privilege — protection from prosecution for criminal conspiracy under section 120B of the Indian Penal Code for agreements to further trade-union objects, immunity from civil suit for acts in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute that merely induce a breach of a contract of employment or interfere with another's trade or labour, and protection against vicarious liability for an agent's tort committed without the executive's knowledge. Section 19 saves agreements in restraint of trade between members from being void on that ground alone. Section 20 gives members a right to inspect the account books and the list of members. Section 21 sets fifteen as the minimum age of membership and section 21A eighteen as the minimum age for office-bearers, with the further disqualification for conviction of an offence involving moral turpitude within the preceding five years unless the disability has been removed. Sections 22 to 28 deal with the proportion of outsiders among office-bearers, changes of name, amalgamation, dissolution and the annual returns.

Key facts

• Trade Unions Act, 1926, Chapter III (sections 15 to 28) is headed 'Rights and Liabilities of Registered Trade Unions'.
• Section 16 — a registered trade union may constitute a separate fund for political purposes, from contributions separately levied; contribution is voluntary and no member may be excluded from benefits or placed under a disability for not contributing.
• Section 15 — the general funds may be spent only on the objects listed there, which do not include political purposes.
• Section 17 — no office-bearer or member is punishable for criminal conspiracy under section 120B of the Indian Penal Code in respect of an agreement to further trade-union objects, unless it is an agreement to commit an offence.
• Section 18(1) — no civil suit lies against a registered trade union or its office-bearers or members for an act done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute on the ground only that it induces a breach of a contract of employment or interferes with another's trade, business, employment or right to dispose of his capital or labour.
• Section 18(2) — a registered trade union is not liable for a tortious act done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute by an agent who is proved to have acted without the knowledge of, or contrary to express instructions given by, the executive.
• Section 21 — any person who has attained fifteen years may be a member of a registered trade union, subject to its rules.
• Section 21A — a person under eighteen is disqualified from being chosen as, or from remaining, an office-bearer.
• Nothing in Chapter III empowers a trade union to alter a contract of employment; terms change by agreement, by settlement or award, or through section 9A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Common traps

• Answering the positive question. The emphasised word is 'not', and three of the four options are genuine provisions.
• Reading the immunity in section 18(1) as a power. It protects the union from suit for inducing a breach; it does not let the union change the contract.
• Confusing the age of membership with the age for office. Fifteen under section 21, eighteen under section 21A.
• Assuming a union may spend general funds on politics. Political payments must come from the separate fund under section 16.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Trade Unions Act, 1926, the minimum age at which a person may be a member of a registered trade union, and the minimum age for being an office-bearer, are respectively :

  • (a)Fifteen years and eighteen years
  • (b)Eighteen years and twenty-one years
  • (c)Sixteen years and eighteen years
  • (d)Fifteen years and twenty-one years

  Answer(a) Fifteen years and eighteen years

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under section 18(2) of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, a registered trade union escapes liability for a tortious act committed by its agent in contemplation of a trade dispute where it is proved that the agent :

  • (a)Was not a member of the trade union
  • (b)Acted without the knowledge of, or contrary to express instructions given by, the executive of the trade union
  • (c)Was acting under the direction of the appropriate Government
  • (d)Had not been paid any remuneration by the trade union

  Answer(b) Acted without the knowledge of, or contrary to express instructions given by, the executive of the trade union