Judgment

BHARGAVA, J. : This appeal, by special leave, has arisen out of an award made by the Industrial Tribunal, Andhra Pradesh, at Hyderabad in an Industrial dispute between the respondent, the Indian Leaf Tobacco Development Company Limited, Guntur (hereinafter referred to as the Company"), and its workmen. Admittedly, the Company is an associate of the Imperial Tobacco Company Ltd., and the main business carried on by the Company is that of purchasing tobacco of all varieties and qualities, stemming, grading and packing of tobacco and supplying it to the Imperial Tobacco Company as well as exporting the tobacco to various foreign countries in the world. The Company has been carrying on this business for about 40 years and handles almost 35 per cent of the tobacco grown in the State of Andhra Pradesh. For the work of stemming, grading and packing tobacco, the Company has two factories, one at Anaparty in East Godavary District, and the other at Chirala in Guntur District. In connection with this business, the Company, in the year 1962, was maintaining 21 depots where, according to the workmen, the appellants, the Company was carrying on the work of collecting tobacco though the