Insurance Association of Sri Lanka vs. Assistant Commissioner of Labour – CA WRIT/628/2021-2021

In the case between The Insurance Association of Sri Lanka (Plaintiff) and the Assistant Commissioner of Labour (Registrar of Trade Unions), Life Insurance Agents Association, and the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (Defendants), the court addressed the issue of whether the registration of the Life Insurance Agents Association as a Trade Union constituted a lawful act under the Trade Union Ordinance. It was held that insurance agents, by virtue of their contractual status as independent contractors rather than employees, do not qualify as “workmen” within the statutory meaning mandated for trade union eligibility. The principle reaffirmed that the legal interpretation of employment status—distinguishing between contracts for services (independent contractor) and contracts of s