{"id":5789,"date":"2025-07-04T11:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/?p=5789"},"modified":"2025-07-04T11:06:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T11:06:30","slug":"industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Industrial vs Individual Disputes Under Labour Law: Meaning, Differences &amp; Legal Framework in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Question\"><\/span>Question:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>What is Industrial dispute? Difference b\/w Industrial &amp; Individual dispute. What are circumstances in which individual dispute can become an industrial dispute?<\/p><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #0c0c0c;color:#0c0c0c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india\/#Question\" >Question:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india\/#Answer\" >Answer:<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india\/#Definition\" >Definition:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india\/#Individual_vs_Industrial_Dispute\" >Individual vs Industrial Dispute:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india\/#Case_Law\" >Case Law:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india\/#Section_2-A\" >Section 2-A:<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/industrial-vs-individual-disputes-under-labour-law-meaning-differences-legal-framework-in-india\/#Key_Clarifications\" >Key Clarifications:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Answer\"><\/span>Answer:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Definition\"><\/span>Definition:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Section 2(k) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947<\/strong> defines &#8220;Industrial Dispute&#8221; as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>A dispute or difference between:<\/b>\n<ol type=\"a\">\n<li>Employers &amp; employers<\/li>\n<li>Employers &amp; workmen<\/li>\n<li>Workmen &amp; workmen<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>The dispute or difference must be connected with: <\/b>\n<ol type=\"a\">\n<li>Employment or non-employment<\/li>\n<li>Terms of employment<\/li>\n<li>Conditions of labour of any person<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>The dispute may relate to any workman or workmen or any other person in whom they are interested as a body.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For a dispute to qualify as an industrial dispute, a demand must first be raised on the management and rejected by them.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Individual_vs_Industrial_Dispute\"><\/span>Individual vs Industrial Dispute:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Before the insertion of <strong>Section 2-A<\/strong> of the Act, an individual dispute could not per se be an industrial dispute. However, it could become one if it was taken up by a trade union or a group of workmen.<\/p>\n<p>The Act indicates that its applicability to individual disputes (as opposed to group disputes) is limited unless the dispute acquires the general characteristics of an industrial dispute, i.e., when a body of workmen or a substantial section of them support the individual workman&#8217;s cause.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Case_Law\"><\/span>Case Law:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>Jagdish Narain Sharma and Anr. vs. Raj Patrika Ltd. and Anr.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was held that a dispute relating to the transfer of a workman becomes an industrial dispute only when:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is espoused by a union of workmen, or<\/li>\n<li>It is supported by a number of substantial workmen employed in the industry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Without such support, the dispute cannot be treated as an industrial dispute and cannot be referred to a labour court.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Section_2-A\"><\/span>Section 2-A:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Section 2-A has limited application and does not declare all individual disputes as industrial disputes.<\/li>\n<li>A dispute connected with a discharged, dismissed, retrenched, or terminated workman shall be treated as an industrial dispute.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Key_Clarifications\"><\/span>Key Clarifications:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Only a collective dispute could constitute an industrial dispute.<\/li>\n<li><b>However, &#8220;collective&#8221; does not necessarily mean: <\/b>\n<ul>\n<li>That it should be sponsored by a recognized union, or<\/li>\n<li>That all majority workmen of an establishment should be parties to it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><b>A dispute is still an industrial dispute if: <\/b>\n<ul>\n<li>It is sponsored by a union, even if it is not registered.<\/li>\n<li>However, the trade union must be connected with the employer or industry concerned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>It is not necessary that there should be a resolution by a substantial number of workmen.<\/li>\n<li>What is necessary is the expression of the collective will of a substantial number of workmen taking up the cause of the aggrieved workman.<\/li>\n<li>Once a dispute has been referred, it does not cease to be an industrial dispute even if the workmen later withdraw their support.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: What is Industrial dispute? Difference b\/w Industrial &amp; Individual dispute. What are circumstances in which individual dispute can become an industrial dispute? Answer: Definition: Section 2(k) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 defines &#8220;Industrial Dispute&#8221; as follows: A dispute or difference between: Employers &amp; employers Employers &amp; workmen Workmen &amp; workmen The dispute or<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"two_page_speed":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[24],"class_list":{"0":"post-5789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-company-law","7":"tag-just-in"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}