Laid-off employees do not count as actually engaged or employed for trade union office-bearer eligibility.

Section 22 of the Trade Unions Act, 1926 requires most office-bearers of a registered trade union to be persons actually engaged or employed in the connected industry or establishment. The statutory explanation excludes retired and retrenched employees from being treated as outsiders, but it does not extend that protection to laid-off employees. Because a laid-off employee is only temporarily unemployed during the lay-off period and does not remain actually engaged or employed in the industry, such persons cannot satisfy the qualification for office-bearers. The challenge to the trade union's registration therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether laid-off employees can be treated as persons actually engaged or employed in the industry for the purpose of Section 22 of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, so as to satisfy the statutory qualification for office-bearers of a registered trade union.

Analysis: Section 22 of the Trade Unions Act, 1926 regulates the composition of office-bearers of registered trade unions and, under sub-section (2), requires that all office-bearers except not more than one-third or five, whichever is less, must be persons actually engaged or employed in the connected establishment or industry. The explanation to sub-section (2) treats retired or retrenched employees as not being outsiders, but it does not extend the same treatment to laid-off employees. A laid-off employee is temporarily unemployed during the period of lay-off and therefore does not remain a person actually engaged or employed in the industry. The authorities relied upon supported the same interpretation.

Conclusion: Laid-off employees are not covered by the expression "actually engaged or employed" for the purpose of Section 22 of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, and the challenge to the registration of the trade union failed.

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