B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 6 Labour Law II 2022 Apr (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: the two sources of labour welfare law in India (international standards and the national Constitution); the ILO: its origin in 1919 and India as a founding member; tripartism and its three organs (International Labour Conference, Governing Body with India's permanent seat, International Labour Office); standard-setting through Conventions and Recommendations, the duty to place them before Parliament within twelve to eighteen months, reports and supervision; the Declaration of Philadelphia 1944 ("labour is not a commodity"); the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the 2022 addition of safety and health; India's ratifications and the laws they shaped (Nos. 1, 14, 29, 81, 100, 105, 111, 138, 144, 182; not 87 and 98); the Constitution: the Preamble; Fundamental Rights (Articles 14, 15(3), 16, 19(1)(c), 21, 23, 24); Directive Principles (Articles 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 43A, 47) and Article 37; legislative power (Union List entries 55 and 61, Concurrent List entries 22 to 24); how the two meet; the cases (Randhir Singh, Consumer Education and Research Centre, Bandhua Mukti Morcha); a table; the Labour Codes; a conclusion.

2. The Governing Body is the executive council. It has fifty-six titular members: twenty-eight governments, fourteen employers and fourteen workers. Ten government seats are held permanently by States of chief industrial importance, and India is one of them.
3. The International Labour Office in Geneva is the secretariat. It prepares studies, gives technical help and supervises standards.

4. Standard-setting. A Convention is a treaty that binds a member once ratified. A Recommendation gives guidance and needs no ratification. Each member must place every new instrument before its competent authority, in India Parliament, within twelve or at most eighteen months. A member that ratifies must report on how it applies the Convention. Committees of experts examine the reports, and complaints and representations may be made against defaulting members.

5. Guiding declarations.

1. The Declaration of Philadelphia, 1944. It reaffirms that "labour is not a commodity" and that "poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere". It also calls for social security for all in need.

6. Minimum Age No. 138 and Worst Forms of Child Labour No. 182, both on 13 June 2017, after the 2016 child labour amendment.
7. The Maritime Labour Convention 2006, ratified in 2015, which protects seafarers.

India has not ratified Nos. 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining. The Government's stated reason is that service rules deny Government servants some of these rights, such as the right to strike. India ratifies a Convention only once its own law conforms.

Part B: the Constitution of India

1. The Preamble. It promises justice, social, economic and political, and the dignity of the individual.

2. Fundamental Rights.

1. Articles 14 and 16. Equality before the law and in public employment, the basis of equal pay for equal work.
2. Article 15(3). The State may make special provision for women and children, which supports maternity and child labour laws.
3. Article 19(1)(c). The freedom to form associations and unions.

4. Power to legislate. Union List entry 55 covers labour and safety in mines and oilfields. Entry 61 covers industrial disputes concerning Union employees. Concurrent List entries 22, 23 and 24 cover trade unions and labour disputes, social security and employment, and welfare of labour. So both Parliament and the States make labour laws.

How the two meet

ILO standards supply the content and the Constitution supplies the duty and the power. Equal pay is an ILO Convention, a Directive Principle and an Act of Parliament at once. The ban on forced labour is an ILO Convention, a Fundamental Right and a statute. The courts read the two together to give the Directive Principles force.

Randhir Singh v. Union of India, AIR 1982 SC 879. A Delhi Police driver was paid less than other Government drivers doing the same work. The Supreme Court read Article 39(d) with Articles 14 and 16 and held equal pay for equal work enforceable.

Where the law stands now

The four Labour Codes, in force from 21 November 2025, consolidate the older welfare Acts. They carry forward these constitutional and ILO commitments in one set of laws.

Conclusion. The ILO, with India as a founding member and permanent Governing Body member, sets labour standards through tripartite Conventions, Recommendations and Declarations. India's ratifications shaped its laws on hours, forced labour, equal pay and child labour. The Constitution adds the Preamble, the Fundamental Rights, the Directive Principles and the legislative lists. Randhir Singh, Consumer Education and Research Centre and Bandhua Mukti Morcha show the courts making these commitments real for workers.