33. The expression ‘employer’ has been defined in Section 2(g) of the ID Act to mean an industrial employer alone. Meaning of expression ‘association of employer’ or ‘federation of association of employers’ has been considered by the Full Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in Andhra Pradesh Power Diploma Engineers’ Association’s case (supra). It has been observed that in the plain sense it would mean the status of the members of the association to be that of employer. The use of words is specific and without any ambiguity and accordingly have to be understood in their natural sense. The Full Bench observed that these words ‘are susceptible to the only meaning that the association must be of persons who are employers and have formed themselves into an association because of their status as such. In other words, 32 the membership of the association must be qua employers and not otherwise… …’. The Full Bench has opined that an association of persons enjoying different and varieties of status of which some accidentally happen to be employers would not be covered by the definition of expression ‘association of employers’. It is for the reason that when a statute speaks of an associa

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