Judgement

BHAGWATI, J: This Appeal with Special Leave is directed against the judgement of the Punjab High Court which dismissed in limine the petition of the appellant for a writ under Art. 226 of the Constitution.

2. Certain industrial disputes arose between the management of the appellant and the workers of the said Mills as represented by the Dhariwal Mills Mazdoor Union, Dhariwal and by a notification dated the 30th October, 1953, hereafter referred to as the first reference, they were referred by the Punjab Government, for adjudication to respondent 1, Shri Avtar Narain Gujral, Industrial Tribunal, Punjab. Further disputes arose between the parties and the same were also referred to the same Tribunal by a notification dated the 12th December, 1953, hereafter referred to as the second reference. Respondent 1, after hearing the parties, made his award on both the references on the 9th July, 1954, and the same was submitted to the Punjab Government which published it in the Punjab Official Gazette Pt. I on date the 13th August, 1954.

3. In the meantime, before the said award was published by the Punjab Government, certain further disputes were alleged to have arisen between the parties and these also were referred for adjudication to the same Tribunal by a notification dated the 2nd August, 1954, hereafter referred to as the third reference.

4. Respondent 1 issued a notice to the appellant to file its written statement on the 31st August, 1954. The appellant thereupon filed on the 25th August, 1954, the petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution in the Punjab High Court praying for a writ, in the nature of prohibition restraining respondent 1 from proceeding with the third reference, a writ in the nature of certiorari commanding respondent 1 to transmit the records of the case and to quash the same and a writ of mandamus directing respondent 2, the State of Punjab, to cancel the notification dated the 2nd August, 1954, and for other reliefs. This was the petition dismissed in limine by the Punjab High Court on the 26th August, 1954. An application before the said High Court under Art. 133 (1) (c) of the Constitution for leave to appeal to this Court was rejected on the 31st August, 1954, and the appellant obtained from this Court special leave to appeal on date the 18th October, 1954.

5. The case of the appellant in the petition was that all the items which were referred by the Punjab Government for adjudication to respondent 1 in the third reference were covered by the relative items in the first two references and the items sought to be referred to respondent 1 were though apparently differently worded, identical with those items in the earlier references which had already been adjudicated upon by respondent 1 and were the subject-matter of the award dated the 9th July, 1954. It may be noted that the said award had been published by the Punjab Government in the Official Gazette on the 13th August, 1954, and would become enforceable on the expiry of 30 days from the date of its publication, i.e., on the 12th September, 1954. An appeal was, however, filed against that award before the Labour Appellate Tribunal and that Tribunal gave its decision in the appeal on the 28th March, 1955. This decision became operative from the 27th April, 1955, and would have continued in operation at least for one year therefrom. On the 26th April, 1956, however, the Punjab Government issued a notification extending the period of operation of the said award for a further period of one year.

6. The appellant realised that a reference could be made to the Tribunal for adjudication of disputes where the appropriate Government was of the opinion that any industrial dispute existed or was apprehended and it therefore alleged that in making the third reference the respondent 2 "had yielded to political pressure of the labour leaders but in order to circumvent the decision of the Tribunal couched the demands covered in the previous references in a di