law: Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
  11. Procedure and powers of
  
  conciliation officers, Board, courts and Tribunals and National Tribunals
   73  [(1) Subject to any rules that may be made in this behalf,
  
  an arbitrator, a Board, court, Labor Court, Tribunal or National Tribunal shall
  
  follow such procedure as the arbitrator or other authority concerned may think
  
  fit.]
  (2) A conciliation officer or a member of a board 74[or
  
  court or the presiding officer of a  Labor Court , Tribunal or National
  
  Tribunal] may for the purpose of inquiry into any existing or apprehended
  
  industrial dispute, after giving reasonable notice, enter the premises occupied
  
  by any establishment to which the dispute relates.
  (3) Every Board, court, 75[Labor Court, Tribunal and
  
  National Tribunal] shall have the same powers as are vested in a Civil Court
  
  under the Code of Civil Procedure,1908 (5 or 1908), when trying a suit, in
  
  respect of the following matters, namely:-
  (a) enforcing the attendance of any person and
  
  examining him on oath;
  (b) compelling the production of documents and
  
  material objects;
  (c) issuing commissions for the examination of
  
  witnesses;
  (d) in respect of such other matters as may be
  
  prescribed, and every inquiry or investigation by a Board, court, 76[Labor
  
  Court, Tribunal or National Tribunal, shall be deemed to be a judicial
  
  proceeding within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code
  
  (45 to 1860).
  (4) A conciliation officer 77[may enforce the
  
  attendance of any person for the purpose of examination of such person or call
  
  for] and inspect any document which he has ground for considering to be
  
  relevant to the industrial dispute 78[or to be necessary for the
  
  purpose of verifying the implementation of any award or carrying out any other
  
  duty imposed on him under this Act, and for the aforesaid purposes, the
  
  conciliation officer shall have the same powers as are vested in a civil court
  
  under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), 77[in respect
  
  of enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him or of compelling
  
  the production of documents]] .
   79  [(5) A court, Labor Court, Tribunal or National Tribunal
  
  may, if it so thinks fit, appoint one or more persons having special knowledge
  
  of the matter under consideration as an assessor or assessors to advise it in
  
  the proceeding before it.
  (6) All conciliation officers, members of a Board or court and
  
  the presiding officers of a  Labor Court , Tribunal or National
  
  Tribunal shall be deemed to be public servants within the meaning of section 21
  
  of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860).
  (7) Subject to any rules made under this Act the costs of, and
  
  incidental to, any proceeding before a Labor Court, Tribunal or National
  
  Tribunal shall be in the discretion of that Labor Court, Tribunal or National
  
  Tribunal, and the Labor Court, Tribunal or National Tribunal, as the case may
  
  be, shall have full power to determine by and to whom and to what extent and.
  
  subject to what conditions, if any, such costs are to be paid, and to give all
  
  necessary directions for the purposes aforesaid and such costs may, on
  
  application made to the appropriate government by the person entitled, be
  
  recovered by that government in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue.]
   80  [ (8) Every 81[  Labor Court , Tribunal or National
  
  Tribunal] shall be deemed to be civil court for the purposes of 82[sections
  
  345, 346, and 348 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).]