Section 98 in The Maharashtra Industrial Relations Act, 1946
98. Illegal lock-outs.
(1)A lock-out shall be illegal if it is commenced or continued,—(a)in cases where it relates to any industrial matter specified in Schedule III or regulated by any standing order for the time being in force;(b)without giving notice in accordance with the provisions of section 42;(c)in cases where notice of the change is given in accordance with the provisions of section 42 and where no agreement in regad to such change is arrived at, before the statement of the case referred to in section 54 is received by the Conciliator for the industry concerned for the local area;(d)in cases where conciliation proceedings in respect of an industrial dispute to which a lock-out relates have commenced, before the completion of such proceedings and during the period of ten days thereafter;(e)in cases where a special intimation has been sent under sub-section(2) of section 52 to the Conciliator, before the receipt of the intimation by the person to whom it is to be given;(f)in cases where a submission relating to such dispute or such type of dispute is registered under section 66, before such submission is lawfully revoked;(g)in cases where an industrial dispute has been referred to the arbitration of a Labour Court or the Industrial Court under sub-section (6) of section 58 or under section 71 or of the Industrial Court under section 71 73 or 73A, before the date on which the arbitration proceeding is completed or the date on which the award of the Industrial Court comes in to operation, whichever is later:(a)Provided that, nothing in this clause shall apply to any lock-out when the employer has offered in writing to submit the industrial dispute to arbitration under sub-section (b) of section 58, andthe Union does not accept offer; or(b)the Union accepts the offer, but disagreeing on the choice of the arbitrator, does not agree to submit the dispute to arbitration without naming an arbitrator,and thereafter, the dispute has been referred to arbitration of the Industrial Court under section 73A;(h)in contravention of the terms of a registered agreement, or a settlement or effective award;(i)where an industrial matter or industrial dispute is referred to a Wage Board for decision, before the date on which the decision comes into operation;(j)in contravention of the terms of an effective decision of a Wage Board.(2)In cases where a conciliation proceeding in regard to any industrial dispute has been completed, a lock-out relating to such dispute shall be illegal if it is commenced at any time after the expiry of two months from the completion of such proceeding.(3)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-sections (1) and (2), if fourteen clear days notice of a lock-out, not falling under clauses (a), (g), (h) or (i) of sub-section (1) was given to the employees and the Labour Officer, and the lock-out was not commenced either before the expiry of the period of notice or after six weeks from the date of its expiry and the employer discontinues the lock-out within forty-eight hours of a Labour Court or the Industrial Court declaring such lock-out to be illegal, the employer shall incur no penalty under this Act in respect of such lock-out:Provided that, nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any lock-out which has within the period of notice been declared under section 99 to be illegal.
