- (1.) By this petition under Art 226 of the Constitution, the Government Opium and Alkaloid Factory, Ghazipur, a departmental Undertaking of the Govenrment of India has assailed an order dated Sept. 27, 1979 (Annexure '7 to the petition) by which Labour Court (I) Kanpur held that it had jurisdiction to interpret the provisions of some Standing Orders applicable to the workmen of the petitioner. The case of the petitioner is that, inasmuch as the Labour Court was not one constituted under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and specified for the disposal of proceedings in question by the appropriate Government, namely, the Central Government by notification in the official Gazetee, it was not competent to determine the question about the application or interpretation of the standing Orders in dispute.
(2.) Section 13-A, which was added to the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 by the Industrial Disputes (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1956 (Parliament Act No. 36 of 1956) is in these terms : "13-A, Interpretation etc. of standing Order. If any question arises as to the application or Interpretation of a standing order certified under this Act, any employer or workman may refer the question to any one of the Labour Courts constituted under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (14 of 1947), and specified for the disposal of such proceeding by the appropriate Government by notification in the official Gazette, and the Labour court to which the question is so referred shall, after giving the parties an opportunity of being heard, decide the question and such decision shall be final and binding on the parties." The "appropriate Government" has been defined in the Standing Orders Act in Section 2 (b) thus : "2 (b), "appropriate Government" means in respect of the Central Government or a Railway Administration or in a major port, mine or oil-field, the Central Government, and in all other cases, the State Government." It is not in dispute that the petitioner is an industrial establishment within the meaning of that term under the Standing Orders Act. Parliament Act No. 36 or 1956 received the assent of the President on August 28, 1956.
(3.) By the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes (Amendment and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1956 (U. P. Act No. 1 of 1957), which received the assent of the President on Dec. 20, 1956, S. 11-C was added to the U. P. Industrial Disputes Act. 1947. It is in these terms : "11-C. Interpretation, etc. of Standing Orders If any question arises as to the application or interpretation of a Standing Order certified under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 any employer or workman may refer the question to any one of the Labour Courts specified for the disposal of such proceeding by the State Government, by notification on in the official Gazette, and the Labour Court to which the question is so referred, shall, after giving the parties an opportunity of being heard, decide the question and such decision shall be final and binding on the parties." By the same Act, S. 4-A was added to the U. P. Act providing for constitution of Labour Court, sub-sec. (1) of S. 4-A, which alone is material in this case, reads thus : "4-A. Labour Court - (1) The State Government may, by notification in the official Gazette constitute one or more Labour Courts for the adjudication of indestrial disputes relating to any matter specified in the first schedule and for performing such other functions as may be assigned to them under this Act........................." The first schedule to the U. P. Act also was added by U. P. Act No. 1 of 1957. It provided for the matters within the jurisdiction of Labour Courts. At item No. 2, it provided "the application and interpretation of Standing Order" as one of the matters which fell within the jurisdiction of the Labour Courts.;