( 1 ) THE petitioner is the National Carbon Co. (India) Ltd. , a well-known company engaged in the manufacture of "eveready" brand batteries and similar goods. In the year 1949, some of the workmen of the petitioner Company demanded bonus. Following upon this demand, the petitioner Company introduced a fund called the Joint Contributory Fund. This is a fund to which the workmen make contribution at a certain rate and the Company makes its own contribution. It is in the nature of a savings fund, the rules whereof are set out in annexure 'b' to the petition. It will appear therefrom that contribution to this fund is optional on the part of the workmen, and in case of discharge on account of misconduct the Company is not liable to make any contribution. On or about the 15th of January, 1951 the workmen through their representatives entered into an agreement or settlement with the petitioner Company in the course of conciliation proceedings. The agreement provided that it settled all claims of the workmen, and would be in force until the 26th August, 1952 and that during the subsistence of the settlement no other demands regarding wages, allowances, remuneration, payment, gr