- (1.) THIS appeal under Clause 10 of the Letters Patent raises the question whether it is within the competence of this Court to set aside an order passed by the State government referring a certain dispute to an Industrial Tribunal under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.-
(2.) THE petitioners in this case are the Karnal-Kaithal Co-operative Transport society, while the respondents are the District Motor Transport Workers Union. .
(3.) CERTAIN disputes which had arisen between the parties were settled on 21-81953 and 31-10-1953. Notwithstanding this settlement, the respondents gave to the petitioners a notice of strike under Section 22 (1) of the statute in which they announced that if their demands were not accepted before 18-3-1954 they would be compelled to go on strike and that the petitioners would be held responsible for any consequences which might ensue. The petitioners replied back to say that all the demands put forward by the respondents existed in one form or another during the dispute which had arisen between the parties, that they were considered and thrashed out on previous occasions, that the settlement arrived at between the parties was signed by both the parties and the Conciliation Officer, and that any strike during the subsistence of the settlement would be illegal under Section 23 of the Act of 1947. The respondents were unable to concur in this line of reasoning and intimated their desire to proceed on strike on 16-5-1954. The petitioners repudiated this fresh notice on facts as well as on law and warned the respondents of the penal consequences which were likely to follow if they proceeded on strike during the subsistence of the agreement. On 17-6-1954, while this acrimonious correspondence was going on between the parties, the State Government referred this dispute to the Second Industrial tribunal at Amritsar under Section 10 (1) (c) of the Act of 1947. This case was later transferred to the Industrial Tribunal at Jullundur, and on 15-7-1954 the latter directed the parties to appear before it on 21-7-1954.;