Applying for Registration, and Cancellation

Deemed means treated as, by force of the statute, whether or not it is so in fact. Section 9(4) uses it for unions registered under the repealed Act.

Section 8: what the application must contain

Section 8(1) requires every application for registration to be made to the Registrar electronically or otherwise, and to be accompanied by four things:

• (a) a declaration by affidavit in the prescribed form and manner;
• (b) a copy of the rules of the Trade Union, together with a copy of the resolution by the members adopting those rules;
• (c) a copy of the resolution authorising the applicants to make the application;
• (d) where the Trade Union is a federation or a central organisation of Trade Unions, a copy of the resolution adopted by the members of each of the member Trade Unions, meeting separately, agreeing to constitute the federation or central organisation.

The Explanation to clause (d) puts the same point beyond doubt: for the purposes of that clause, a resolution adopted by the members of the Trade Union means, in the case of a federation or central organisation, the resolution adopted by the members of each of the member Trade Unions meeting separately.

The words "meeting separately" are doing real work. A federation cannot be created by a joint meeting at which delegates from several unions vote together. Each constituent union must decide, in its own meeting, that it agrees to join. That protects the internal democracy of each union against being carried into a federation by a bloc vote.

Section 8(2): unions older than a year. Where the Trade Union has been in existence for more than one year before the application is made, a general statement of the assets and liabilities, in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed particulars, must be delivered to the Registrar with the application.

Why that requirement exists. A body that has been operating for a year has collected money and may owe money. Registration will turn it into a body corporate under section 12, and the members and the Registrar are entitled to know what the corporate body is inheriting.

Section 8(3): the Registrar may ask for more. He may call for further information for the purpose of satisfying himself that the application complies with the Code and that the Trade Union is entitled to registration, and may refuse to register the Trade Union until such information is furnished.

Read the words of that refusal carefully. It is a refusal until the information is furnished. It is a suspension of the process, not a rejection on the merits, and the union cures it by answering.

Section 8(4): deceptive names. If the proposed name is identical with that of an existing registered Trade Union, or in the Registrar's opinion so nearly resembles the name of an existing Trade Union that it is likely to deceive the public or the members of either Trade Union, the Registrar shall require the applicants to alter the name, and shall refuse to register until the alteration has been made.

Three features are examinable. The test has two limbs, identical or nearly resembling. The mischief is deception of the public or the members of either union, so it protects the existing union's members and the incoming union's members alike. And the Registrar's duty is mandatory: the section says "shall", twice.

The same test reappears in section 24(4) for a change of name, where the Registrar shall refuse to register the change on the same ground.

Section 9: registration, the certificate, and cancellation

Section 9(1) and (2): the duty to register, and the certificate

Section 9(1) provides that the Registrar shall, on being satisfied that the Trade Union has complied with all the requirements of Chapter III in regard to registration, register the Trade Union by entering the particulars in a register maintained in the prescribed form.

The duty is mandatory once he is satisfied. He has no residual discretion to refuse a union that meets the requirements because he thinks it undesirable.

Section 9(2): where the Registrar makes an order for registration he shall issue a certificate of registration in the prescribed form, which shall be the conclusive evidence that the Trade Union has been registered under this Code.

Section 9(3) requires him then to enter the name and other particulars in a register maintained in that behalf in the prescribed form.

Section 9(4): the transitional provision

Every Trade Union registered under the Trade Unions Act 1926 and having valid registration immediately before the commencement of this Code shall be deemed to have been registered under this Code.

The proviso attaches a condition. Such a union shall file with the Registrar a statement that the constitution of its executive is in accordance with this Code, along with its rules updated in accordance with section 7, and the Registrar shall amend his records accordingly.

So an existing union does not re-apply. It updates. This is the provision that answers the question every union in India had to ask on 21 November 2025, and it is worked as part of the example in [The Code, and the Day the Law Changed].

Section 9(5): the three grounds of cancellation

The certificate may be withdrawn or cancelled by the Registrar:

• (i) on the application of the Trade Union, verified in the prescribed manner; or
• (ii) on information received by him regarding the contravention by the Trade Union of the provisions of the Code, or the rules made under it, or its constitution or rules; or
• (iii) if he is satisfied that the members in a Trade Union falls below ten per cent. of the total workers or one hundred workers, whichever is less.

Ground (ii) is wider than it first looks, because it covers contravention of the union's own constitution or rules, not only of the Code. A union that has not held the election that section 7(i) requires its rules to provide for is in breach of its own rules, and that is a ground.

Ground (iii) is the enforcement end of section 6(4), the continuing membership obligation. Note that it uses the section 6(2) figure and does not repeat the floor of seven.

The proviso: sixty days, in writing, with the grounds

Provided that not less than sixty days previous notice in writing specifying the grounds on which it is proposed to cancel the certificate of registration of a Trade Union shall be given by the Registrar to the Trade Union before the certificate of registration is cancelled otherwise than on the application of the Trade Union.

Four elements, and each is a mark. The notice must be not less than sixty days; it must be previous, that is before cancellation; it must be in writing; and it must specify the grounds. The only case in which no notice is required is a cancellation on the union's own application, which is ground (i).

Section 9(6): the Registrar shall cancel the certificate where a Tribunal has made an order for cancellation of the registration. Here he has no discretion at all; he is executing an order.

Section 9(7): while cancelling, the Registrar shall record the reasons for doing so and communicate the same in writing to the Trade Union concerned.

Sub-sections (5) and (7) together are what makes an appeal possible. A union that has been told the grounds in advance and given the reasons afterwards has something to appeal against.

Section 10: the appeal to the Tribunal

Section 10(1): any person aggrieved by the refusal of the Registrar to grant registration under section 9, or by the cancellation of a certificate under section 9(5), may within such period as may be prescribed prefer an appeal to the Tribunal.

The proviso allows the Tribunal to entertain an appeal after the prescribed period if the appellant satisfies it that the delay was caused by sufficient reason or unavoidable circumstances.

Section 10(2): the Tribunal may, after giving the parties concerned an opportunity of being heard, either dismiss the appeal, or pass an order directing the Registrar to register the Trade Union and issue a certificate, or set aside the order of cancellation; and it shall forward a copy of its order to the Registrar.

Notice where the appeal goes. Under the repealed Trade Unions Act 1926 an appeal lay to a civil court or a High Court depending on the place. Under the Code it lies to the Industrial Tribunal constituted under section 44, which is defined as "Tribunal" by section 2(zn). The subject has been taken out of the ordinary courts and given to the specialist forum, which is consistent with section 22(2) barring civil courts from Trade Union disputes and with section 97 barring their jurisdiction generally.

Rangaswami v. Registrar of Trade Unions, AIR 1962 Mad 231 is the illustration of a refusal being tested on appeal, and its facts are worked in [What a Trade Union Is: The Definition]. In short: the Registrar refused to register the Madras Raj Bhavan Workers' Union; the members brought a petition under section 11 of the Trade Unions Act 1926, the appeal provision of that Act; and the Madras High Court dismissed it with costs, holding that a trade union presupposes an employer and employees engaged in a trade or business and that the Raj Bhavan carries on no trade or industry. The case shows both that a refusal is challengeable and that the challenge fails where the union is outside the Act. Under the Code the same challenge would go to the Tribunal under section 10 rather than to the High Court.

Section 11: staying on the register

Section 11(1): all communications and notices to a registered Trade Union shall be sent, in the prescribed manner, to the address of the head office of the union as entered in the register maintained by the Registrar.

That is a rule with teeth. Service at the registered address is good service. A union that has moved and not told the Registrar can be validly served at an address it has left.

Section 11(2): the Trade Union shall inform the Registrar if its members fall below ten per cent. of the total workers or one hundred workers, whichever is less.

Section 11(3): the Trade Union shall inform the Registrar of any change in the particulars given in its application for registration and in its constitution or rules, in the prescribed manner.

Sub-section (2) is the uncomfortable one, and it is worth saying plainly why: it obliges the union to report the very fact that is a ground of cancellation under section 9(5)(iii). A union that fails to report is additionally in contravention of the Code, which is itself a ground under section 9(5)(ii).

A worked example

The facts. The Wada Packaging Workers' Union, eight applicants, applies electronically on 4 March. It encloses an affidavit in the prescribed form, a copy of its rules with the resolution adopting them, and a resolution authorising the eight to apply. The union has existed since January of the previous year. Its proposed name is "Wada Packaging Karmachari Sangh", and a registered union at a neighbouring unit is already called "Wada Packaging Kamgar Sangh".

Is the application complete? Not quite. The union has been in existence for more than one year before the application, so section 8(2) required a general statement of assets and liabilities to be delivered with it. The Registrar may call for it under section 8(3) and refuse to register until it is furnished.

The name. Under section 8(4) the Registrar must consider whether the proposed name so nearly resembles the existing one that it is likely to deceive the public or the members of either union. If he forms that opinion, he shall require an alteration and shall refuse to register until it is made. His duty is mandatory, and the union's remedy if it disagrees is the appeal under section 10.

The union alters the name and files the statement. The Registrar is satisfied. Under section 9(1) he shall register it; under section 9(2) he shall issue a certificate, which is conclusive evidence of registration; under section 9(3) he enters the particulars.

Eighteen months later the union has held no election. Its own rules, as section 7(i) requires, provide for the election of office-bearers once in every three years, so no breach has yet occurred. Suppose instead four years pass with no election. The union is now contravening its own rules, which is a ground under section 9(5)(ii).

The Registrar proposes to cancel. He must give not less than sixty days' previous notice in writing specifying the grounds, under the proviso to section 9(5). If he cancels, he must record his reasons and communicate them in writing to the union, under section 9(7).

The union wants to challenge the cancellation. It appeals to the Tribunal under section 10(1), within the prescribed period; if it is late, the proviso allows the Tribunal to entertain the appeal on being satisfied that the delay was caused by sufficient reason or unavoidable circumstances. Under section 10(2) the Tribunal, after hearing the parties, may dismiss the appeal or set aside the cancellation, and forwards a copy of its order to the Registrar.

Suppose instead the Tribunal itself orders the registration cancelled in some other proceeding. Section 9(6) then requires the Registrar to cancel: he has no discretion and the sixty-day notice has no application, because he is executing an order and not forming an opinion.

What this does NOT mean

It does not mean the Registrar may refuse registration on his own view of the merits. Section 9(1) obliges him to register once satisfied that Chapter III's requirements are met. His powers to refuse are the specific ones: until further information is furnished, section 8(3), and until a deceptive name is altered, section 8(4).

It does not mean the certificate proves the union is properly constituted. It is conclusive evidence that the union has been registered, no more. Whether the union is now complying with the Code is a separate question, and section 9(5) exists precisely because a registered union may stop complying.

It does not mean sixty days' notice is required for every cancellation. The proviso excepts a cancellation on the union's own application under ground (i), and section 9(6) cancellation on a Tribunal's order is the execution of an order rather than the Registrar's own decision.

It does not mean an existing union had to re-register in November 2025. Section 9(4) deems it registered, subject to filing the statement and the updated rules.

It does not mean an appeal lies to a civil court. It lies to the Tribunal under section 10, and section 22(2) and section 97 keep civil courts out of this territory generally.

Limits, criticism and amendments

The whole procedure is now electronic-capable, section 8(1) saying "electronically or otherwise", which is a modernisation over the repealed Act.

The appeal has been moved from the courts to the Tribunal. That is defensible, since the Tribunal is the specialist forum, but it depends on Tribunals actually being constituted and functional, which is why section 104(1A), inserted by Act 1 of 2026, had to keep the old forums working in the meantime.

The prescribed period for an appeal is not in the Code. Section 10(1) leaves it to the rules, so a student cannot state a number, and should say so rather than inventing one.

And the duty in section 11(2) is criticised as self-incriminating. A union whose membership has fallen must report the fact, and the fact reported is a ground for cancelling its registration.

Quick revision

• Section 8(1): application to the Registrar, electronically or otherwise, with an affidavit, the rules plus the resolution adopting them, the resolution authorising the applicants, and for a federation or central organisation a resolution of each member union meeting separately.
• Section 8(2): union in existence more than one year, add a statement of assets and liabilities.
• Section 8(3): Registrar may call for further information and refuse until it is furnished. Section 8(4): identical or deceptively similar name, he shall require alteration and shall refuse until made.
• Section 9(1): on being satisfied he shall register. 9(2): certificate is conclusive evidence of registration. 9(3): enter in the register.
• Section 9(4): unions registered under the 1926 Act are deemed registered, on filing a statement that the executive accords with the Code and rules updated to section 7.
• Section 9(5): cancellation on (i) the union's own application; (ii) contravention of the Code, the rules, or the union's own constitution or rules; (iii) membership falling below the section 6(2) figure. Proviso: not less than sixty days' previous notice in writing specifying the grounds, except on the union's own application.
• Section 9(6): cancel where the Tribunal so orders. 9(7): record reasons and communicate them in writing.
• Section 10: appeal to the Tribunal, within the prescribed period, with a proviso for sufficient reason or unavoidable circumstances; the Tribunal may dismiss, direct registration, or set aside cancellation, after hearing the parties.
• Section 11: notices go to the head office as entered in the register; the union must report a fall in membership and any change in its particulars, constitution or rules.

Test yourself

1. What must accompany an application for registration? Under section 8(1), a declaration by affidavit in the prescribed form; a copy of the rules together with a copy of the resolution of the members adopting them; a copy of the resolution authorising the applicants to apply; and, where the union is a federation or central organisation of Trade Unions, a copy of the resolution adopted by the members of each member union meeting separately. Under section 8(2), where the union has been in existence for more than one year, a general statement of its assets and liabilities as well.

2. Why does section 8(1)(d) insist that the member unions meet separately? Because a federation must be constituted by the decision of each constituent union taken in its own meeting, not by a joint meeting at which delegates vote together. The requirement protects the internal democracy of each union against being carried into a federation by a bloc vote, and the Explanation to the clause puts it beyond doubt.

3. What is the legal effect of a certificate of registration? Section 9(2) makes it conclusive evidence that the Trade Union has been registered under the Code. That means no proceeding may go behind it to dispute the fact of registration. It does not certify continuing compliance, which is why section 9(5) provides for cancellation.

4. On what grounds, and with what procedure, may a certificate be cancelled? Section 9(5) gives three grounds: the union's own verified application; information of a contravention by the union of the Code, the rules made under it, or its own constitution or rules; and the Registrar's satisfaction that membership has fallen below ten per cent. of the total workers or one hundred, whichever is less. Except where the union itself applied, the proviso requires not less than sixty days' previous notice in writing specifying the grounds. On cancelling, section 9(7) requires the Registrar to record his reasons and communicate them in writing. Section 9(6) separately obliges him to cancel where a Tribunal has so ordered.

5. A Registrar refuses registration. What is the remedy, and to whom does it lie? An appeal under section 10(1) to the Tribunal, that is to the Industrial Tribunal constituted under section 44, by any person aggrieved, within the prescribed period; the proviso allows the Tribunal to entertain a late appeal where the delay was caused by sufficient reason or unavoidable circumstances. Under section 10(2), after giving the parties an opportunity of being heard, the Tribunal may dismiss the appeal or direct the Registrar to register the union and issue a certificate, and forwards a copy of its order to the Registrar. The illustration is Rangaswami v. Registrar of Trade Unions, AIR 1962 Mad 231, where the refusal was challenged and upheld, though under the repealed Act that challenge lay to the High Court.

6. A registered union's membership falls below the required figure. What must it do, and what may follow? Section 11(2) requires the union itself to inform the Registrar. The fall is a ground of cancellation under section 9(5)(iii), and a failure to report is a contravention of the Code and therefore a further ground under section 9(5)(ii). Before cancelling on either ground the Registrar must give not less than sixty days' previous notice in writing specifying the grounds, and on cancelling must record and communicate his reasons; the union may appeal to the Tribunal under section 10.