Judgment

DAS GUPTA, J.: This appeals arises out of an industrial dispute as regards the age of retirement. The first respondent, Shaw Wallace and Co., was incorporated in January 1946 as a Private Limited Company to take over the business of the partnership firm of the Shaw Wallace and Co., which had been doing business in India for about 60 years. In July 1947 the Private Limited Company was converted into a Public Limited Company. The Head Office of the Company is at Calcutta. It has Branches in Bombay, Delhi and Madras. The general practice of the Company both at the Head Office and the Branch Offices appears to have been to retire its employees at the age of 55 though in certain cases the Company in its discretion permitted an employee to continue beyond that age. In September 1959 an agreement was entered into between the Company and its employees at Calcutta under which the age of retirement was extended to 58 years subject to the employees passing a medical examination on reaching the age of 55. Shortly after this the Company s employees at Bombay raised a dispute regarding their retirement age. They claimed that no workman should be retired from service before he had complet