9(4)

9(4)(a)

9(4)(a)(i) The Central Government shall appoint a verification officer (hereinafter in this chapter, referred to as the verification officer) for the purpose of verification of membership of the Trade Unions in the industrial establishment who shall not have any interest with any of the Trade Unions in the industrial establishment, whose membership verification is to be carried out by him: Provided that the process for recognition of the negotiating union or the negotiating council, as the case may be, shall commence three months before the expiry of the term of the existing recognition period of the negotiating union or the negotiating council, as the case may be, recognised by the employer under the Code. (ii) The verification officer may utilise the services of other officers to assist him depending upon the quantum of work of membership verification. (iii) The verification officer shall carry out the work of membership verification in the industrial establishment within the time as determined by the Central Government.

9(4)(b) The employer of the industrial establishment shall bear all the expenses and make arrangements in connection with the verification of membership of Trade Unions under clause (a).

9(4)(c) The Trade Unions may submit an application to the employer of the industrial establishment to accord status of negotiating union or the representatives of negotiating council of the workers, as the case may be, on fulfillment of the following conditions namely,-

9(4)(c)(i) such Trade Union has a valid registration under the Trade Unions Act, 1926 (16 of 1926) and continuing as such or has the registration under the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (35 of 2020), as the case may be; and (ii) the application for recognition by the Trade Union is accompanied with a copy of the registration certificate, a copy of list of members, details of the membership subscription and a copy of latest annual return of the Trade Union submitted to the Registrar of Trade Unions.

9(4)(d)

9(4)(d)(i) In case the negotiating union or negotiating council, is constituted under the Code, the employer of the industrial establishment shall initiate action before expiry of the tenure of negotiating union or negotiating council, sufficiently in advance but not later than three months before the expiry of the tenure of negotiating union or negotiating council, as the case may be. (ii) The date of reckoning of verification of membership of the Trade Unions shall be fixed by the verification officer for the industrial establishment. (iii) The employer of the establishment shall forward the documents and records submitted by Trade Unions, to the verification officer. (iv) On receipt of the documents and records, the verification officer shall scrutinise the records and documents submitted by the Trade Union to ascertain the status of registration of Trade Unions and related matters.

9(4)(d)(v) The verification officer shall hold meeting with representatives of employer of industrial establishment and all participating Trade Unions to decide the process of verification of the membership of Trade Unions through secret ballot. (vi) The employer may, in consultation with the verification officer deploy an electronic process for conducting the election over an information technology application, online platform or like other platform.