Central govt staff don’t need prior nod to run for and hold office in trade unions: HC

The division bench struck down restrictions imposed by the atomic energy department through an office memorandum dated August 29, 2022

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court last week struck down an office memorandum issued by the atomic energy department (AED), which required their employees to seek prior permission to contest elections and become office-bearers of trade unions and restricted their tenure to four years.

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The division bench of justices Ravindra Ghuge and Ashwin Bhobe also clarified that employees of any ministry or department of the cenral government, including the AED, do not require prior permission become office-bearers of any association or trade union whose membership is restricted to employees of the department.

“Under the provisions of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, employees working in public or private sector undertakings can come together and form a trade union....An employer per se has no role to play with regard to the internal affairs of the trade union,” the division bench said while striking down restrictions imposed by the atomic energy department through an office memorandum dated August 29, 2022.

The memorandum restrained central government employees from contesting elections or becoming office-bearers of any body, including trade unions, without prior permission of the government, and restricted their tenure to two terms or five years, whichever is longer.

The National Federation of Atomic Energy Employees had challenged the office memorandum in the high court last year.

The government opposed the petition, expressing serious concerns about productivity of elected office-bearers and claiming they would develop vested interests, lost interest in their jobs and not perform their duties faithfully.

The bench, however, refused to accept the contention.

“In a country which is administered by the rule of democracy and which is recognised to be one of the largest democracies in the world, no employer can be permitted to impose restrictions on the freedom of members of a trade union in either contesting elections or continuing as office-bearers,” the court said.

“These issues are governed only by the Constitution of the trade union which is necessary under the Trade Unions Act, 1926,” said the bench. “No employer can create such service rules which would create an embargo on the terms and conditions or the clauses of the Constitution of a trade union.”