REGISTERED No. D-(D)-72

The Gazette of India

EXTRAORDINARY

PART II—Section 2

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

No.

11]

NEW DELHI, FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 1981/PHALGUNA 22, 1902

Separate paging is given to this Part in order that it may be filed

as a separate compilation

RAJYA SABHA

The following Bills were introduced in the Rajya Sabha on the 13th

March, 1981: —

BILL NO. II OF 1981

A Bill to recognise and remove doubts as to the validity of inter-marriages

solemnised in accordance with the Buddhist rites and ceremonies.

WHEREAS it is expedient and necessary to recognise and place beyond

doubt the validity of inter-marriages as per Buddhist rites and ceremonies;

it is hereby enacted as follows: —

1. (1) This Act may be called the Buddhist Marriage Validation Act,

1981.

(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and

Kashmir and applies to citizens of India wherever they may be.

2. Notwithstanding any provision of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, or

any other law, usage, custom or order or decree of a court of law, to the

contrary, no marriage solemnised, whether before or after the commence-

ment of this Act, between two persons being at the time of marriage,

Buddhist by religion, according to the Buddhist marriage rites and cere-

monies, shall be invalid by reason only of the fact that it was solemnised

according to Buddhist rites and ceremonies not customary of a Hindu

marriage.

Short

title

and

extent.

Validity

of Bud-

dhist

marriages.

(193)

194

T H E 'GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY

[PAHT II—

3. (1) For the purpose of facilitating the proof of a Buddhist marriage,

the State Government may make rules providing that the parties to any

such marriage may have the particulars relating to their marriage entered

In such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed in a

Buddhist Marriage Register kept for the purpose.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in subjection (1) the State

Government may, if it is of opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to

do, provide that the entering of the particulars referred to in sub-section

(7) shall be compulsory in the State or in any part thereof, whether In

all cases or in such cases as may be specified and where any such direction

has been issued, any person contravening any rule made in this behalf

shall be punishable with fine which may extend to twenty-five rupees.

(3) All rules made under this section shall be laid before the State

Legislature, as soon as may be, after they are made.

(4) The Buddhist Marriage Register shall at all reasonable times be

open ?or inspection and shall be admissible as evidence of the statements

therein contained and certified extracts therefrom shall, on application,

be given by the Registrar on payment to him of the fees prescribed by

rules made under sub-section (1).

(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the validity

of any Buddhist marriage shall not be affected by reason only of the

omission to make the entry as provided in sub-section (1).

4. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, other provisions of

the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the benefits conferred thereunder shall

apply to persons who are Buddhist by religion.

Regiatra-

tion of

Buddhist

marriages.

Savin*

£«!. 21

THE GAZETT& OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY

1^5

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

Doubts have been created about the

marriages solemnised as per

Buddhist rites, and solemnising of some marriages has been held illegal

as they were not performed according to Hindu Religious rites. After the

conversion of a large number of Hindus to Buddhist at Diksha Bhooml

(Nagpur) in the presence of late Dr. B. R. Ambedkar in 1956, many

marriages have been solemnised as per Buddhist rites and, therefore, such

marriages need protection and validation. This Bill therefore, provides

retrospectively for validation of such marriages.

S. W. DHABE.

MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED LEGISLATION

Clause 3 of the proposed Bill empowers the State Government to make

ruies regarding the Registration of a Buddhist Marriage. It is provided

that these rules will be laid before the State Legislature. The delegation

of legislative power is normal.

tg$

THU GtAZEITE OF INDIA EXTRAcmjyiNARY

[PART tt:.^

BILL NO. V OF

1981

A Bill further to amend the Trade Unions Act, 1926.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-second Year of the Republic

of India as follows: —

1. This Act may be called the Trade Unions (Amendment) Act, 1981.

2. In the Trade Unions Act, 1926 (hereinafter referred to as the

principal Act) in section 2,—

(i) after clause (f) the following clause shall be inserted,

namely: —

"(if) 'Rural worker' means any person engaged in agricul-

ture, forestry, fishery, handicrafts or a related occupation in a

rural area whether as a village artisan, wage-earner or a self-

employed person.

Short

title.

Amend-

ment of

section

fi«ft 2}

THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAOREONABW

I*J

Explanation: In this clause^ the expression "self-employed per-

son" includes a tenant, sharecropper or small owner-occupier

who

derives his main income from agriculture, ploughs the land himself

with the help only of his family or occasional outside labour but does

not—

(a) permanently employ workers; or

(b) employ a substantial number of seasonal workers; or

(ii) in clause (h) after the words "more Trade Unions" the

words "and also includes the National Trade Union Centre composed

of a number of Trade Unions and federations

known as INTUC,

AITUC, HMS or any other federation of similar nature" shall

inserted.

3. In section 6 of the principal Act, for clause (ee), the

following

clause shall be substituted, nam,ely:~

"(ee) the payment of a subscription by members of the Trade

Union at the following rates, namely: —

(i) in case of rural workers, at the rate of rupee one per

annum per member;

{ii) in. case

of workers

employed

egUMfohMexrt

employing less than 500 workers, rupees- three per, annum

per

member; and

(iii) in other case, rupees six per annum per member/'

4. After section 21A of the principal Act, the following new section

shall-be inserted, namely: —

"21B. Non-elig\bility of a Minister to be office bearer <HJc <yf a

Trade Union^t-

Notwithstanding

anything

contained in section 21A, no

Minister either for the Union or St*te or Union tanrttawy shall

be a member of the executive or any other offtce*»boa»r.olf

Trade Union:

Provided that if a member of the executive or any other, office-

bearer of a Trade Union is appointed a Minister, he shall cease to

be such a member or office-bearer from the date of sjiob, -appoint-

ment"

5. After Chapter III of the principal Act, the following Chapter shall

be inserted, namely: —

Amend-

ment of

section

Insertion

of n«w

section

21B.

Insertion

of new

Ghaptai

IHA.

l§ft

THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY

[PAM it—

"CHAPTER IIIA.

EIGHTS OF RURAL WORKERS

29A. (1) No employer shall discharge, dismiss, retrench or

reduce in rank or otherwise punish any employee by reason only of

the fact that the employee—

(a) is an office-bearer or a member of a registered Trade

Union of rural workers or a Union which has applied for being

registered as such under this Act; or

(b) is entitled to any right or benefit under any agree-

ment, settlement, adjudication or any provision of an industrial

or labour law.

(2) No employer shall discharge, dismiss, retrench or reduce in

rank any protected employee save with the permission in writing

of the Labour Court.

(3) In every establishment or local area, a workman, to be

recognised as a protected workman, shall be an office-bearer or a

member of a Trade Union with a total membership of a minimum

number of ten protected workmen and a maximum number of

one hundred protected workmen in that establishment

or local

area, as the case may be, and the distribution of such protected work-

men among various Trade Unions connected with that establishment

or local area shall be such as may be prescribed.

(4) Whoever contravenes any provision of this section shall

be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to

six months or with fine which may extend to rupees five thousand.

(5) The Court trying the offence under this section may direct

that from out of the fine imposed and realised under this section,

such amount shall be paid to the employee concerned as compen-

sation as the Court may by order direct.

Explanation—For the purposes of this section, a protected

workman in relation to an establishment or local area means a

workman who is a member of the registered Trade Union connected

with that establishment or the local area and recognised as such in

the manner prescribed."

6. In section 29 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2), after clause

(d), the following clauses shall be Inserted, namely: —

"(da) the distribution of protected workmen among various

Trade Unions connected with the establishment or a local area;

(daa) the manner in which a workman may be recognised as a

protected workman;

\daaa) the territorial limits of a local area.

Protec-

tion fox

Trade

Unions

of Rural

Workers.

Amend-

ment of

section

29.

SKC. 2J

THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY

ro.3

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

Recently a tendency has grown that Ministers for the Union or State

continue to be office-bearers or members of the executive committees

of Trade Unions, Federations or National Trade Union Centres. At some

places, Ministers are office-bearers of the minority and unrecognised

unions. This has created new problems and the State being the blggeit

employer, for the development of healthy, free and independent trade

union movement, it Is necessary that Ministers should not remain office

bearers or members of the executive committees of trade union

organisations.

Though our country has adopted the ILO Convention No. 141, still

there is no provision made in the Trade Unions Act for the protection of

office-bearers of trade unions of rural labour. There is also a demand

to reduce the membership fee in respect of such labour.

The Bill seeks to achieve these objectives.

S. W. DHABE

MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED LEGISLATION

Section 29 of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, confers power on the

appropriate Government to make regulations for the purpose of carrying

into effect the provisions of that Act. Clause 6 of the Bill enables

regulations to be made also for the distribution of protected workmen

among various Trade Unions, the manner in which a workman may be

recognised as a protected workman and the territorial limits of a local

area for the purpose. The delegation of rule-making power 1B thus of

normal character.

S. S. BHALERAO,

Secretary-General.

PRINTED BY THE GENERAL MANAGER,

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

PRB8S, MDJTO ROAD

NEW Df LHI

AND PUBLISHED

EY THE CONTROLLER OF

PUBLICATIONS, DELHI,

1981