Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 · Chapter IIB: Reference of Certain Individual Disputes to Grievance Settlement Authorities
Section 9C: Setting up of Grievance Settlement Authorities and reference of certain individual disputes to such authorities
The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 was repealed and replaced by the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 from 21 November 2025. It still applies to matters and proceedings from before that date, as the repealing law provides.
In plain words
Every establishment with fifty or more workmen on any day in the past twelve months must have a Grievance Settlement Authority to settle disputes of individual workmen.
- A workman or their union can take an individual dispute to this Authority.
- The dispute can be referred for adjudication under Chapter III only after the Authority has decided it and a party does not accept the decision.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
(1) The employer in relation to every industrial establishment in which fifty or more workmen are employed or have been employed on any day in the preceding twelve months, shall provide for, in accordance with the rules made in that behalf under this Act, a Grievance Settlement Authority for the settlement of industrial disputes connected with an individual workman employed in the establishment.
(2) Where an industrial dispute connected with an individual workman arises in an establishment referred to in sub-section (1), a workman or any trade union of workmen of which such workman is a member, refer, in such manner as may be prescribed such dispute to the Grievance Settlement Authority provided for by the employer under that sub-section for settlement.
(3) The Grievance Settlement Authority referred to in sub-section (1) shall follow such procedure and complete its proceedings within such period as may be prescribed.
(4) No reference shall be made under Chapter III with respect to any dispute referred to in this section unless such dispute has been referred to the Grievance Settlement Authority concerned and the decision of the Grievance Settlement Authority is not acceptable to any of the parties to the dispute.]
Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the text of the Act as it stood before its repeal. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 9C
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.