JUDGMENT

CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. :— The workmen of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Bombay raised an Industrial dispute with regard to the retirement age of the clerical staff employed in the Refinery Divison of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited at Bombay. The demand of the workmen was that the retirement age of the clerical staff of the Refinery Division at Bombay must be raised from 55 years to 60 years in keeping with the trend in the Bombay region. The Company resisted the demand on the ground that in all similar oil companies the retirement age of the clerical staff engaged in the Refinery Division had never been fixed at 60 years. Before the Industrial Tribunal, Maharashtra at Bombay to whom the dispute was referred for adjudication, neither party led any oral evidence. The workmen relied upon several decisions of this court to establish that the trend of industry in Bombay was to fix the retirement age of the clerical staff at 60 years, while the company contented itself by filing a statement showing the age of retirement of clerical staff employed in various oil companies. The Industrial Tribunal found as a fact that the wage scales of the company were not much