Judgment

P. N. SHINGHAL J.:- This appeal by special leave by directed against the order of Industrial Tribunal (III) U. P. at Kanpur dated July 14, 1978, deciding the following two preliminary issues which were raised by the Indian Oxygen Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Company) against the Company.

"(1) Whether present dispute is not an industrial dispute in the light of the objections raised by the employers in paragraph (1) of their Written Statement?

(2) Whether the present Order of Reference is bad in law in the light of the objections raised by the employers in paragraph (1) of their Written Statement?"

2. The Company employed some 5400 workmen in its establishment in West Bengal, Bihar, U. P. Assam, Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. There were several recognised trade unions of the workmen. The All-India Federation of Indian Oxygen Employees Union (hereafter referred to as the Federal Union) was the recognised federation of some of the trade unions from 1973 onwards. The Indian Oxygen Shramik Sangh (hereafter referred to as the Shramik Sangh), which represented some of the workmen at Kanpur, was affiliated to the Federal U