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The 1971 Act was enacted as its long title shows to provide for the recognition of trade unions for facilitating collective bargaining for certain undertakings, to state their rights and obligations, to confer certain powers on unrecognised unions; to provide for declaring certain strikes and lock-outs as illegal strikes and lock-outs; to define and provide for the prevention of certain unfair labour practices; to constitute court (as independent machinery) for carrying out the purposes of according recognition to trade unions and for enforcing the provisions relating to unfair practices etc There is in force in the State of Maharashtra a comprehensive legislation, Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 touching almost all aspects of industrial relations but it applies only to specified industries. Industries other than specified industries are governed by industrial Disputes Act, 1947. This latter act is not comprehensive in character There is no provisions for recognising union vis-a-vis the undertaking or the industry. Unions of workmen employed by undertakings not governed by Bombay Industrial Relations Act voiced dissatisfaction over this discriminatory treatment and the lacuna in the 1947 Act. To bring the provisions of both the acts on par in certain specific areas 1971 Act was enacted by the State Legislature.

The Legislature has in fact taken note of the existing phenomenon in trade unions where there would be unions claiming to represent workman in an undertaking or industry other than recognised union. Sec. 22 of 1971 Act confers some specific rights on such non- recognised unions, on such being the right to meet and discuss with the employer the grievances of individual workman The Legislature has made a clear distinction between individual grievance of a workman and an individual dispute affecting all or a large number of workmen. In the case of even an unrecognised union, it enjoys the statutory right to appear and discuss the grievance of individual workmen with employer. It also enjoys the statutory right to appear and participate in a domestic or departmental enquiry in which its member is involved. This is statutory recognition of an unrecognised union. The exclusion is partial and the embargo on such unrecognised union or individual workman to represent workman is in the large interest of industry, public interest and national interest. Such a provision could not be said to be violative of fundamental freedom guaranteed under Art. 19 (1) (a) or 19 (1) (c) of the Constitution Having examined the contention on principle, we may now turn to precedents brought to our notice.

The change in the law made by the introduction of Sec. 2-A in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 has been taken note of by the State Legislature in introducing a safeguard in Sec. 20 (2) (b) in that (1) [1978] 2 S.C.R. 387.

an individual workman who has been either dismissed, discharged, A removed, retrenched or whose services has been terminated in any manner or who is suspended would be on his own entitled to raise an industrial dispute concerning the termination of his service in any manner and he would be able to pursue his remedy in a proceeding arising out of the legality or validity of the order of termination of service. The representative union would not be able to supplant the workman by its appearance and act to the detriment of the workman Cases are not unknown where an individual workman whose services has been terminated and who wanted his cause to be espoused by the union was not only ignored by the union but occasionally the power of representative union to exclude the workman from the proceeding was exercised to the disadvantage of the workman by appearing in the proceeding and after excluding the workman to so get the proceedings disposed of as to be wholly disadvantageous to the workman and the workman was left without a remedy Care has been taken to deny such steam rolling power to the representative union and this position is further strengthened by the provisions contained in Sec. 22 of the 1971 Act which confers certain rights on unrecognised unions more especially right to meet and discuss with the employer the grievances of an individual member relating to his discharge, removal, retrenchment, termination of service or suspension as also to appear on behalf of its members employed in the undertaking in any domestic or departmental enquiry held by the employer. This is certainly an advance on the similar provisions of the Bombay Industrial Relations Act.