1. This petition raises a very important interesting question as to the jurisdiction of the Payment of Wages Authority. The petitioner before us is the Secretary of the Wollen Mill Kamgar Union the second Opponents are the Raymond Woollen Mills, Ltd. It appears that 48 watchmen employed by the second opponents applied for recovering delayed wages to the Payment of Wages Authority, Their case was that they worked as watchmen in three shifts and each of these three shifts was for fifteen days; and in these shifts they were made to work for more than eight hours a day and they were, therefore entitled to overtime wages. The second opponents inter alia contended that in point of fact no over-time work was done by any of the watchmen. The Payment of Wages Authority, being the Joint Civil Judge at Thana, held that he had no jurisdiction to determine this disputed question of fact and, therefore, dismissed the application. It is this order of the Payment of Wages Authority that is challenged on this petition on the ground that the Authority, failed to exercise jurisdiction which it possessed having taken a wrong view of its own jurisdiction; and the question that has been de