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Section 13: Certain Acts not to apply to registered Trade Unions

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (Act No. 35 of 2020) • Official Statutory Text & Plain English Practice Guide

Statutory Mandate
Chapter III: Trade Unions
Competent Labour Forum
Act No. 35 of 2020
Section 12 All 104 Sections of Industrial Relations Code, 2020 Section 14

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 13

Section 13 of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 confers corporate juristic personality upon every registered Trade Union, endowing it with perpetual succession, a common seal, the capacity to acquire and hold property, contract, and sue or be sued in its registered corporate name.

  • Body Corporate & Perpetual Succession: Every registered Trade Union constitutes a body corporate by the name under which it is registered, possessing perpetual succession and an independent legal existence unaffected by changes, retirements, or deaths among its individual members.
  • Proprietary & Contractual Capacities: Possesses full legal capacity to acquire, hold, and alienate movable and immovable property, enter into binding contracts, open and operate banking accounts, and execute legal instruments in its registered name.
  • Corporate Locus Standi & Non-Applicability of Other Corporate Acts: Possesses the inherent right to institute and defend legal proceedings in its corporate name. Section 13 explicitly excludes the application of the Societies Registration Act, 1860, the Cooperative Societies Act, 1912, and the Companies Act, 2013 to registered Trade Unions.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • B.R. Singh v. Union of India (1989) 4 SCC 710: The Supreme Court held that registration under Trade Union law confers distinct corporate status and locus standi to espouse collective industrial grievances, negotiate binding settlements, and protect worker interests before judicial and administrative forums.
  • State of Bihar v. Deokaran Nenshi (1972) 2 SCC 890: The Supreme Court affirmed that statutory juristic entities created under labor welfare legislation exist as distinct legal personalities separate from the natural individuals comprising their membership.
  • National Organisation of Bank Workers v. Union of India (1993) 2 LLJ 627 (Bom): The Bombay High Court held that an unregistered trade union lacks corporate personality and cannot maintain a writ petition or industrial claim in its own name without complying with the representative suit procedure under Order I Rule 8 CPC.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

In industrial disputes and property acquisitions, all conveyance deeds, commercial leases, and bank accounts must be executed strictly in the registered corporate name of the union, executed by authorized signatories designated under registered rules. When an unregistered labor union attempts to file an industrial dispute, employers must raise a preliminary objection on locus standi, asserting that absence of Section 13 corporate status bars the entity from litigating without individual worker joinder.

Section 12 All 104 Sections of Industrial Relations Code, 2020 Section 14