Labour Laws

Group 5

Saurabh Bakre HRA001

Yashaswini Motwani HRA004
Eashna Jain HRA005
Hunar Ahuja HRA006
Akash Dogra HRA032
Arfa Fatima HRA038

All India Bank Employees vs

National Industrial Tribunal
 FACTS

• Petition was filed under article 32 of the
constitution of India for the enforcement of
fundamental rights
• Ramamurthi. R. K. Garg and S. C. Agarwal were
for appellant and petition
• M. C. Setalvad, Attorney-General of India, N. V.
Phadke, K. H. Bhabha, J. B. Dadachanji, S. N.
Andley, Rameshwar Nath and P. L. Vohra were for
respondents
• Judgement of the case was delivered by
AYYANGAR
• Decision in the appeal is as regards the
constitutional validity of Section 34A of the Banking
Companies Act, 1949
• All India Bank Employees Association which is a trade union is the
appellant; PNB Employees Union also supported the appellant
• Along with these, there were three other writ petitions
• All these case were heard together because the same identical point was
raised in all these petitions
• The validity of section 34A of the Banking Companies Act is the matter in
dispute.
• The claim of the workers in the appeal before the Appellate Tribunal in
great part related to a demand for increased wages and salaries and the
main defence of the banks was that they had not the capacity to pay
anything beyond what the Sastry Tribunal had granted
Relevant Laws and Sections
Article 19(1) C of Indian Constitution.
All citizens shall have the right to form associations or unions.

Freedom of Association and Protection of Right to organise Convention,1948

Part 1:Outline the rights of both worker and employers to join organisations of their own choosing without
previous authorisation. Rights are also extended to the organizations themselves to draw up rules and
constitutions, vote for officers, and organize administrative functions without interference from public
authorities.

Part 2:Every ILO member undertakes to ensure all necessary and appropriate measures to ensure that
workers and employers may exercise freely the right to organise.

Part 3: Deals with technical matters related to the Convention. It outlines the definitions of who may
accept or reject the obligations of this Convention with regards to non-metropolitan territory whose self-
governing powers extend into this area. It also discusses reporting procedures for modification of previous
declarations in regard to acceptance of these obligations.

Part 4:Outlines the procedures for formal ratification of the Convention. It also outlines provisions for
denunciation of the Convention, including a ten-year cycle of obligation.
Right to Organise and collective Bargaining,1949

Article 1:Workers must be protected against discrimination for joining a union, particularly conditions
of employers to not join a union, dismissal or any other prejudice for having union membership or
engaging in union activities.
Article 2 : both workers and employers' organisations should not be interfered in their own
establishment, functioning or administration.
Article 3:each ILO member give effect to articles 1 and 2 through appropriate machinery, such as a
government watchdog.
Article 4 :It requires that the law promotes the full development and utilisation of machinery for
voluntary negotiation between worker organisations and employer groups to regulation employment
"by means of collective agreements."
Article 5: national law can provide different laws for the police and armed forces, and the Convention
does not affect laws that existed when an ILO member ratifies the Convention.
Article 6 : Gives an exemption for the position of public servants engaged in the administration of the
State.
 Case Laws

• Romesh Thappar v. The State of Madras

It argued that freedom of speech and expression includes freedom of
propagation of ideas, by freedom of circulation.

• Express Newspapers (Private) Ltd v. Union of India

This case included freedom of press under article 19(1)(a) which is the right to
freedom of speech and expression

• National Association for the advancement of colored people v. Alabama

Freedom of speech and assembly would be abrogated or improperly
encroached upon by legislation 'which compelled the disclosure to public
authorities of the membership rolls.
 Arguments
• The appellant argued that the employers are taking cover of Section 34 A of the banking
companies act and not revealing financial information which was unequitable

• They wanted Section 34 A to be held unconstitutional because it violates the rights flowing
out of Art. 19(1)c which is a fundamental right.

• They wanted to know the sense of making a trade union when they were not given rights like
collective bargaining, strike, access to information etc. Therefore appellants wanted the
Industrial Tribunal to compel the banks to disclose relevant financial information.

• The objective of labour unions is to ensure collective bargaining by labors with the
employees.

• Effective collective bargaining may require the labour to withdraw its cooperation from the
employer which is basically a fundamental right to strike which is a deduction from right to
form unions guaranteed by Art. 19(1)(c).
 Judgements and Rationale

• In a case where an association is formed , the subclause (c) of the freedom of association does not guarantee right to the company to make
profits.
• The limitation the law can impose on the business operations will not be directed by public and morality under clause (4) of Article 19.
• Under subclause(c) of clause(1) of Article 19 , the rights in it also allow the formation of union and the activities conducted by the union.
The adjudicator regulates the cost that an industry pays or bear the additional cost.
• The only consequence of section 34A is that with respect to two things, namely secret reserves and the provision provided by banks 'for
bad and questionable debts and other required provisions,' the appropriate quantity available for the adjudicator to be taken into account
must be measured and calculated by an expert body which is a regulatory authority or, in practice, a government agency.
• We cannot hold the provision to be discriminatory within Article 14 as the legislation does not cover every banking company. The
legislation only looks into the effect of changes in Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss Account under Section 29(4)of the Banking
Companies Act.
• Section 21 of the Industrial Dispute Act which provides secrecy is sufficient or not to protect the interest of the bank is a topic of
legislative policy and is solely for Parliament to decide.
Rationale-
The manner in which the PartIII and the underlying principles are framed under the constitution are interpretated in a liberal way but this
does not mean that Court is entitled to give artificial meaning to the expression used based on ideal scenarios.
Thank You!