Judgment

WANCHOO J. : The only question raised in this appeal by social leave is the propriety of a service condition in the respondent-concern by which unmarried women in a particular department have to resign, on their getting married. A dispute was raised about this condition by the appellant-union on behalf on the workmen and was referred to the Industrial Tribunal, Maharashtra, in the following terms :

"The existing bar on ladies that on their getting married they have to leave the service of the company should be removed."

The respondent is a pharmaceutical concern. It appears that there is a rule in force in the respondent concern according to which if a lady workman gets married her services are treated as automatically terminated. It appears that such a rule is in force in other pharmaceutical concerns, in that region and the matter came up on two occasions before industrial tribunals for adjudication with reference to other pharmaceutical concerns, and on both occasions the challenge by the workmen to such a rule failed. On the first occasion the dispute was between Boots Pure Durg Co. (India) Limited v. Their Workmen, B. G. G. Part I-L dated 26-1-1956 and a similar rule was