22. Proportion of office-bearers to be connected with the industry

Not less than one-half of the total number of the 8[office-bearers] of every registered trade union shall be persons actually engaged or employed in an industry with which the trade union connected:

PROVIDED that the 24[appropriate government] may, by special or general order, declare that the provisions of this section shall not apply to any trade union or class of trade unions specified in the order.

Comment: The provisions contained in Sections 6 and 22 reproduced above relate to the registration of a Trade Union and constitution of the executive of the said Union. The provisions of Sections 6 and 22 indicate that an ordinary or a temporary member may be an office bearer but they nowhere provide that such a member shall also have a right to negotiate with the management or the management would be under an obligation to negotiate with an office bearer of the Union who is no longer in the employment of the Industry which the Trade Union is connected. State Bank of India Staff Association v. State Bank of India AIR 1996 SUPREME COURT 1685