Judgment

VAIDIALINGAM J.:- This appeal, by special leave, is directed against the judgment and order dated the 10th September, 1968, of the Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in L. P. A. No. 108 of l966, confirming the order of the learned single judge and holding that the order of the State Government dated the 5th March, 1962, referring a dispute for adjudication was incompetent.

2. The respondent company dismissed three of its workmen between the l5th December, 1959 and 6th January, 1980 and it also retrenched another employee on the 7th February, 1960. The District Motor Transport Workers Union appears to have raised a dispute with the management on the 17th November, l960 and demanded the reinstatement of the dismissed workmen as well as the payment of retrenchment compensation regarding the workmen who were retrenched. The demand not having been met with by the management and conciliation having failed, the State Government was approached for making a reference of the dispute for adjudication.. On the 9th June, 1960 the State Government declined to make a reference. A further attempt was made to persuade the State Government by the workmen concerned to make a reference, but that attempt also failed, as will be seen from the order dated the 29th July, 1961. In this order, the State Government had stated that out of sixty workmen employed in the concern, only 18 workmen had supported the demand and these 18 included thirteen dismissed workers of the company. It is the further view of the Government that as a substantial number of workmen had not espoused the cause of the dismissed workmen, there was no Industrial Dispute which could be referred for adjudication. It is to be noted from this order of the State Government that out of the 18 workmen, who are stated to have espoused the cause of the workmen in this case, only five were in the employment of the respondent company and thirteen others were workmen of the respondent who had already been dismissed from service. Therefore, the espousing of the cause of the present workmen was only by five workmen, who were, at the relevant time actually in the employ of the company.

3. Another attempt appears to have been made to induce the State Government to make a reference and this time the attempt succeeded, as will be seen from the order dated the 5th March, 1962. The State Government, which had twice refused to make a reference, acceded this time to the request of the workmen and referred for adjudication to the labour Court, Rohtak, the following two questions :-

"1. Whether termination of services of Sarvshri Manmohan Singh, Jagir Singh and Inderjit Singh is justified and in order? If not, to what relief they are entitled?

2. Whether the retrenchment of Shri Mohinder Singh, Booking clerk, is justified and in order? If not, to what relief he is entitled?"

4. When the Labour Court commenced the proceedings in respect of this dispute, the management raised two preliminary objections. We are concerned with only the first objection, namely, that the dispute that has been referred by the State Government for adjudication is not an Industrial Dispute under Section 2 (k) of the Industrial Disputes Act inasmuch as the cause of the workmen had not been espoused by a substantial body of the workmen of the company. The Labour Court accepted the plea of the workmen that the dispute was an Industrial Dispute and overruled the preliminary objection raised in that regard by the management

5. The company filed a writ petition In the High Court for quashing the order of the Labour Court as well as the reference made by the State Government. The learned single Judge accepted the plea of the management that the dispute in question had not been sponsored by a substantial body of the workmen of the respondent company, and in this view, held that the order of reference was incompetent.

6. The workmen did not challenge the decision of the single Judge. But the State challenged the same