Labour legislation in any country should be based on the principles of social justice, social equity, international uniformity and national economy. The concept of social justice has become an integral part of industrial law. The Constitution of India has affirmed social and economic justice to all its citizens. During the twentieth century a new branch of jurisprudence known as Industrial Jurisprudence has developed in our country. This branch of Law modified the traditional law relating to master and servant and had cut down the old theory of laissez faire based upon the ‘freedom of contract’ in the larger interest of the society.

 Labour legislation is one of the most progressive and dynamic instruments for achieving socio-economic progress. There is no other branch of law which embraces such a wide and effective role in social engineering and social action. In India, a number of labour legislations have been enacted to promote the condition of the labour and to regulate the labour management relation. Some of them are: The Trade Union Act, 1926, the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946. 

This book provides a short cut to the students of the 5 year law degree course to enable them to get a broad understanding of the topics that would be covered under the revised syllabus with effect from the academic year 2009-2010. Though every effort has taken to incorporate the developments / amendments on the subject, it may happen that some developments might have taken place subsequent to release of the book for publication. Hence, the readers are therefore advised to study recent amendments and case laws.