B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Labour Law I 2019 Dec (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: strike as the workers' weapon and lock-out as the employer's; strike (section 2(q) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947): its elements taken one by one, with Buckingham and Carnatic, and what falls outside it; lock-out (section 2(l)): its elements, its temporary character and its purpose, with Kairbetta Estate, and lock-out distinguished from closure (Tatanagar Foundry) and from lay-off (section 2(kkk)); the distinction point by point: author, act, purpose, effect on employment, penalty (section 26), financial aid (sections 25 and 28), wages for the period (Syndicate Bank), and constitutional footing (T.K. Rangarajan); what they share (sections 22 to 24); a table; the Industrial Relations Code 2020; a conclusion.

Two weapons in one dispute

In a dispute over wages or conditions, each side has one weapon of pressure. The workers can withhold their labour, and the employer can withhold employment. The Act calls the first a strike and the second a lock-out. It defines each in a single clause, and then regulates both by the same rules.

4. Any number. The definition says "any number of persons". A strike does not need a majority of the workforce.
5. Reason and length do not matter. The cause of the stoppage, and how long it lasts, are not part of the definition.

Buckingham and Carnatic Co. Ltd. v. Workers of the Company, AIR 1953 SC 47. The management of a Madras textile mill refused the night-shift workers of one department a forenoon holiday for a solar eclipse. They stopped work together for about four hours that evening. The Supreme Court held this a strike: a concerted stoppage by a body of workmen. As the mill was a public utility service and no notice had been given, it was illegal, though it lasted only a few hours.

What is not a strike. A refusal by one worker, or absence without any common understanding, is not a strike.

Part 2: lock-out, section 2(l)

A lock-out is "the temporary closing of a place of employment, or the suspension of work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him".

Its elements.

Tatanagar Foundry Co. Ltd. v. Their Workmen, AIR 1970 SC 1960. The company shut its business, citing its finances, a lack of orders and the workers' non-cooperation. The Tribunal called the shutting a lock-out. The Supreme Court held it a closure, because the business had ended finally and irrevocably. A genuine closure is not a lock-out, whatever its motive.

Lock-out and lay-off. In a lay-off the employer cannot give work because of a listed cause, such as a shortage of power or raw materials (section 2(kkk)). In a lock-out he will not give work, as a weapon in a dispute.

Part 3: the distinction

1. Author. A strike is the act of the workmen collectively. A lock-out is the act of the employer.
2. What is done. In a strike the workers stop or refuse work. In a lock-out the employer closes the place, suspends work or refuses employment.
3. Purpose. Workers strike to press demands on the employer. An employer locks out to resist demands or to make the workers accept his terms.
4. Effect on employment. In both, the employment continues. The strikers remain employees, and the locked-out workers remain employed.

T.K. Rangarajan v. Government of Tamil Nadu, (2003) 6 SCC 581. The Tamil Nadu Government dismissed a large number of its striking employees. The Supreme Court held that government employees have no fundamental, statutory, equitable or moral right to strike. In industry, the right to strike exists only within the limits the Act sets. In the same way, a lock-out is lawful only within those limits.

Part 4: what they share

1. One definition style, one set of rules. In a public utility service, neither may begin without notice given within six weeks before (section 22). Nor may it begin within fourteen days of that notice, before the date it names, or during conciliation and for seven days after.
2. The same bars everywhere. In every establishment, neither may begin during proceedings before a Board, Labour Court, Tribunal or arbitrator, or while a settlement or award operates (section 23).

Where the law stands now

The 1947 Act was repealed on 21 November 2025 by section 104 of the Industrial Relations Code 2020. Strike is defined in section 2(zk) and lock-out in section 2(u). The Code's definition of strike adds "the concerted casual leave on a given day by fifty per cent. or more workers". Section 62 requires notice of both in every industrial establishment, given within sixty days before, and bars either within fourteen days of the notice. Section 63 declares a strike or lock-out in breach illegal.

Conclusion. A strike is the collective cessation or refusal of work by workmen acting together, as Buckingham and Carnatic shows. A lock-out is the employer's temporary closing, suspension of work or refusal to employ, used as a counter-weapon, as Kairbetta Estate shows. They differ in author, form and purpose, and in the heavier penalty on the employer. A lock-out must also be told apart from a permanent closure, as Tatanagar Foundry holds. Both are tested by the same rules in sections 22 to 24. Strikers earn wages for the period only if the strike is legal and justified, as Syndicate Bank holds.