JUDGMENT

M S Sonak, J. - Heard Mr. G. K. Sardessai with Ms. Madhuri Rao, learned Counsel for the petitioner, and Mr. Shivraj Gaonkar, learned Counsel for the respondents.

2. Rule. At the request of and with the consent of the learned Counsel for the parties, the Rule is made returnable forthwith.

3. The challenge in this petition is to the award (part-I) dated 28.02.2020 made by the Industrial Tribunal and Labour Court, Government of Goa at Panaji (Tribunal) in Reference No. IT/25/2014 rejecting the petitioner's (employer's) preliminary objections to the maintainability of the reference. The employer had urged that the respondent is not a workman under Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (said Act) and in any case, the Gomantak Mazdoor Sangh, of which the respondent was a member, was incompetent to raise the industrial dispute relating to her termination.

4. Mr. Sardessai, the learned Counsel for the petitioner, at the very outset and upon a query of this Court, made it clear that the employer was not pressing the issue of alleged incompetency of the Gomantak Mazdoor