JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J

1. Leave granted.

2. The appeal arises from a judgment of a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Madras dated 14 March 2018. The High Court dismissed the Letters Patent Appeal filed by the management against a judgment of a Single Judge. The Single Judge had upheld an order dated 31 March 2003 of the Assistant Commissioner of Labour, Dindigul, rejecting an application filed by the management under Section 33(2)(b) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947¹[“ID Act”]. The management is in appeal.

3. The appellant had an establishment which was functioning in Dindigul District. An application was filed by the appellant on 16 November 2002 before the Assistant Commissioner of Labour under Section 33(2)(b) of the ID Act for the grant of approval of its action to dismiss thirty-one workmen against whom disciplinary proceedings had been initiated and concluded. The material facts which need to be summarized for the purpose of the present appeal are thus: On 4 July 2002, the workmen raised an industrial dispute under Section 2(k) of the ID Act. The dispute was taken into conciliation. While the conciliation proceedings were pending, the workers c