Section 23 in Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946
23. Approved list Maintenance of conditions for being entered in. -(1) On an application being made in the prescribed form, by a union for being entered in the approved list, the Registrar may after holding such inquiry as he deems fit enter the union in such list if he is satisfied that the union has made rules that the provisions of the said rules are being duly observed by the unions, and that the rules provide, tha. -
(i)its membership subscription shall be not less than [fifty paise] per month;(ii)its executive committee shall meet at intervals of not more than three months;(iii)all resolutions passed, whether by the executive committee or the general body of the union, shall be recorded in a minute book kept for the purpose;(iv)an auditor appointed by Government may audit its accounts at least once in each financial year;[(v) every industrial dispute in which an agreement or settlement is not reached shall be offered to be submitted to arbitration or for decision to a wage Board as may be mutually agreed upon and that if any time an employer agrees to refer all disputes, as then existing and to which the union is a party to arbitration of the Industrial Court under Chapter XI, such arbitration shall not be refused by it;](vi)no strike shall be sanctioned or resorted to by it unless all the methods provided by or under this Act for the settlement of an industrial dispute have been exhausted and the majority of its members vote by ballot in favour of such strike;[***]Provided that the Registrar shall not enter a union in the approved list if he is satisfied that it is not being conducted bona-fide in the interest of its members, but to their prejudice.Explanation - "Member" for the purposes of clause (vi) means a member of the union for the purpose of the Indian Trade Unions Act, 1926. (XVI of 1926.)(2)The [State] Government may by notification in the Official Gazette direct that in the case of any union or class of unions specified in the notification the membership subscription may, subject to a minimum of [twenty-five paise] per month, be less than [fifty-paise],(3)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) there shall not at any time be more than one approved union in respect of any industry in a local area:[Provided that, where two or more unions satisfying the conditions necessary for being entered in the approved list under sub-section (1) apply in the same calendar month for being so entered in respect of the same industry in any local area, union having the largest membership of employees employed in the industry during the calendar month immediately preceding that in which the applications were made shall be entered in the approved list and any applications were made in subsequent calendar months shall not be considered by the Registrar until the applications made in the earlier calendar months are disposed of by him:Provided further that where a union satisfying the condition necessary for being entered in the approved list applies in any calendar month for being so entered in respect of an industry in any local area, any application in any subsequent calendar month by any other union for being so entered in respect of the same industry shall not be considered by the Registrar until the former application is disposed of by him.](4)Any union complying with the conditions specified in sub-section (1) and having a larger membership in an industry in a local area than an approved union for such industry [in that local area] shall on application in that behalf be entered in the approved list in place of such approved union [by the Registrar after holding such inquiry as he deems fit] [if he is satisfied that the membership of the applicant union had in the calendar month in which the application was made as also in the calendar month immediately preceding it was respectively larger than the membership of the approved unions is those months. The provisions of sub-section (3) shall mutatis mutandis apply to such application]:[Provided that the Registrar shall not entertain-(a)any such application unless a period of two years has elapsed since the approved union was entered in the approved list;(b)any fresh application by the same union, unless a period of one year has elapsed from the date of disposal of its previous application by the Registrar.][23A. Approved union to continue to be so for altered local area for some time. - Notwithstanding anything contained in section 23, if there is any alteration in the local area or areas,-(a)an approved union in an industry in the altered local area or areas, or(b)where two or more approved unions exist in an industry in the altered local area or areas the union having the largest membership, whether by agreement of the other approved union or as determined by the Registrar after such inquiry as he deems fit,[shall continue to have all the rights and privileges of an approved union in respect of its members] for the altered local area or areas, as the case may be for a period of twelve months from the date on which such alteration is effected, or where such approved union or any other union in the altered local area or areas makes an application under section 23 within such period until the disposal of such application by the Registrar.]
