Arbitration for adjudication of Industrial Disputes – Informative in-depth analysis of mechanism by two distinguished Advocates of the Bombay High Court
The gravamen of the analysis is to understand if the arbitration as the dispute resolution option in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, is keeping in today’s times. The analysis Article notes the voluntary reference of disputes to arbitration in Section 10A of ID Act (as applicable in Maharashtra). However, sub-section (5) of Section 10A ousts the Arbitration Act, 1940. The issue if the Act does not exclude the application of AA of 1996 to a voluntary reference of arbitration under Section 10A is examined in detail.
The authors have delineated nine points at a glance showing distinction in arbitrations under the ID Act and AA 1996 and also the judicial pronouncements on Section 10A of the ID Act.
In conclusion, it is stated that the inherent lacunae act as deal breaker for the robus alternate dispute resolution mechanism under IDA. As rightly said, the entire gamut of arbitration under ID Act seems to be at variance with the arbitration of AA of 1996. Moreover, it is noted that there is no functional difference between an Arbitral Tribunal and the Labour / Industrial Court and therefore, it is necessary to confer their powers on the Arbitrator instead of handling a portion of industrial disputes.
It is, therefore, essential that ID Act is amended to cover the industrial disputes under the ambit of AA of 1996, for uniform and robust frame work for modern day industrial disputes.
