JUDGMENT :

K.N. Wanchoo, J.

1. This is an appeal by special leave by the workmen of Messrs Jessop's Co. Ltd., against the award of the Fourth Industrial Tribunal, West Bengal. There was a dispute between the appellant-workmen and their employer who is the first respondent in the present appeal about, a number of matters, which were referred for adjudication to the Tribunal. In the present appeal we are concerned only with some of the matters which were in dispute before the Tribunal; and they are these:

(1) Grades and scales of pay.

(2) Dearness allowance for subordinate staff.

(3) Overtime allowance.

(4) Retiring age.

(5) Gratuity scheme.

Besides the appellants also challenge the date from which the award has been ordered to be brought into operation by the Tribunal.

2. The appellants wanted the existing scales of pay for clerks and subordinate staff to be substantially raised and in this connection relied upon the scales of pay prevalent in Brooke Bond and Co. Ltd., Western Indian Match Co. Ltd. Imperial Tobacco Co. Ltd. and Volkart Brothers Limited. The Tribunal however pointed out that three of these concerns on which the appellants rolled were not comparable as they were not engineeri