KSLU Solved Question Papers
Labour Law I
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2021 Oct Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Labour Law I 2021 Oct Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2021 Oct examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2021 Oct examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2021 Oct examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
(a)Explain the provisions relating to registration of a Trade Union.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: that registration under the Trade Unions Act 1926 is voluntary, and why unions still seek it; the Registrar (section 3); the rules a union must adopt before it can be registered (section 6, as amended in 2001), with Bokajan Cement on membership; the steps from application to certificate (sections 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9); the legal effects of registration (sections 13 to 21); the duties that follow it (sections 9A and 28); registration distinguished from recognition (Balmer Lawrie); the Industrial Relations Code 2020; a conclusion.
Registration is voluntary, but it matters
The Trade Unions Act 1926 does not force any union to register. An unregistered union may exist, hold meetings and bargain. But the Act's rights and protections belong only to a registered union. So in practice every serious union registers.
The Registrar: section 3
The appropriate Government appoints a Registrar of Trade Unions for each State, and may appoint Additional and Deputy Registrars. A union deals with the Registrar of the State where its head office is situated.
Step 1: rules that meet section 6
A union is entitled to registration only if its executive is properly constituted and its rules provide for the following matters.
- Its name, and the whole of its objects.
- The whole of the purposes for which its general funds may be spent, all of them lawful under the Act.
- A list of members, open to inspection by office-bearers and members.
- The admission of ordinary members actually engaged or employed in the industry with which it is connected. The rules must also admit the outsiders allowed by section 22 as office-bearers.
- A minimum subscription. Since 2001 it is one rupee a year for rural workers, three rupees for other unorganised workers and twelve rupees in any other case.
- The conditions on which members get benefits, and on which fines or forfeitures may be imposed.
- How the rules may be amended or rescinded.
- How the executive and office-bearers are elected and removed, and their term, which cannot exceed three years.
- Safe custody of funds, an annual audit and inspection of the account books.
- How the union may be dissolved.
Bokajan Cement Corporation Employees' Union v. Cement Corporation of India Ltd., AIR 2004 SC 245. The High Court held that a member lost his membership when his employment ended, relying on section 6(e). The Supreme Court reversed this. Section 6(e) governs the admission of members, not the end of membership. Neither the Act nor the union's constitution provided for automatic cessation. So a member did not cease to be a member merely because he left the employment.
Step 2: an application by seven members
Under section 4, any seven or more members may apply, by subscribing their names to the rules. Since 2001 a union of workmen must also have a minimum membership on the date of application. It is ten per cent or one hundred of the workmen of the establishment or industry, whichever is less. At least seven of its members must be workmen there.
The application goes to the Registrar with a copy of the rules and a statement of particulars (section 5). These are the applicants' names, occupations and addresses and their place of work, the union's name and head office, and its office-bearers' details. A union more than a year old also files a statement of its assets and liabilities.
Step 3: scrutiny by the Registrar
The Registrar may call for further information, and may refuse to register until it is supplied (section 7(1)). If the proposed name is identical with, or deceptively similar to, an existing union's name, he must require a change (section 7(2)).
Step 4: registration and the certificate
When satisfied that the union has complied with the Act, the Registrar enters it in the register (section 8). He issues a certificate of registration, which is "conclusive evidence" that the union is registered (section 9).
What registration brings
- Corporate status (section 13). The union becomes a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal. It may hold property, contract, and sue and be sued in its own name.
- Freedom from other Acts (section 14). The Societies Registration Act, the Co-operative Societies Act and the Companies Act do not apply to it. Any registration under them is void.
- Funds (sections 15 and 16). It may keep a general fund for listed objects and a separate political fund.
- Immunities (sections 17 to 19). Its members are protected from a charge of criminal conspiracy, and the union from certain civil suits, in a trade dispute. Agreements among members are not void merely for restraint of trade.
- Members' rights (sections 20 and 21). Members may inspect the books. A person aged fifteen or more may be a member.
Duties after registration
Registration is not a one-time event. Under section 9A, inserted in 2001, a union of workmen must keep the minimum membership at all times. Under section 28 it must file an annual audited statement of receipts, expenditure, assets and liabilities, with changes of office-bearers. A copy of every change in its rules must reach the Registrar within fifteen days. Failure can lead to cancellation under section 10.
Registration is not recognition
Balmer Lawrie Workers' Union v. Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd., AIR 1985 SC 311. A settlement was made with the union recognised under the Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Unions and Prevention of Unfair Labour Practices Act 1971. It required deductions for that union's fund from all workers. A rival, unrecognised union challenged the settlement and the Act's exclusive representation rule. The Supreme Court dismissed its appeal. It explained that recognition of the union with the largest following as sole bargaining agent answers the evils of many rival unions.
The case shows the difference. Registration gives a union legal personality and protection. Recognition, which the 1926 Act did not provide for, gives it the right to bargain for all the workers.
Where the law stands now
The Trade Unions Act 1926 was repealed on 21 November 2025 by section 104 of the Industrial Relations Code 2020. Registration is now under sections 5 to 9 of the Code. Section 6 keeps the ten per cent or one hundred rule, and section 7 lists the matters the rules must contain. Section 8 allows electronic application, and section 9(4) deems unions registered under the 1926 Act to be registered under the Code. The Code also provides for recognition of a negotiating union (section 14).
Conclusion. Registration under the 1926 Act was voluntary but carried every legal advantage a union needed. A union qualified by adopting rules covering the matters in section 6 and applying through seven members with the minimum membership. The Registrar then scrutinised the application, registered the union and issued a conclusive certificate. Registration made the union a body corporate with funds and immunities. It also imposed continuing duties of membership and returns.
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