Representative Union Primacy Bars Individual Employee Participation Once the union appears, employees lack locus standi to intervene in industrial proceedings.

The Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 gives primacy to the representative union in industrial proceedings and generally bars individual employees from appearing or acting except through that representative. Sections 32 and 33 do not displace that restriction where the representative union has already appeared, because the statutory scheme is directed to collective bargaining through the recognised union. Allegations about the union's bona fides do not remove the statutory prohibition, and any grievance must be pursued under the Act's own mechanisms. Individual employees therefore had no locus standi to intervene once the representative union was on record, and refusal to implead them was correct in law.

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Issues: Whether individual employees can appear or act in proceedings under the Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 when a representative union has entered appearance as the representative of employees.

Analysis: The scheme of the Act, read through Sections 80, 27-A, 30, 32 and 33, gives primacy to the representative union in industrial proceedings and restricts individual employee participation. Section 27-A lays down the general prohibition that no employee shall be allowed to appear or act in any proceeding under the Act except through the representative of employees, and the exceptions in Sections 32 and 33 do not override that restriction where the representative union itself has appeared. The legislative object is collective bargaining through the recognised representative union, not individual intervention. The bona fides or mala fides of the representative union do not alter the statutory bar, and the remedy for discontent with the union lies elsewhere under the Act.

Conclusion: Individual employees had no locus standi to appear or act in the proceedings once the representative union had appeared; the refusal to implead them was correct in law.

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