ORDER : The point for my consideration in this Rule is short but interesting. That point is whether an Industrial Tribunal retains its jurisdiction to deal with an application for approval of penal action taken by an employer against an employee after the Tribunal has made its award on the industrial dispute referred to it. The provision of law, that is relevant for consideration in this context, is S. 33 of the Industrial Disputes Act to which I shall refer later on.

2. The circumstances in which the point arises for my consideration are hereinafter stated in brief. The petitioner company is a manufacturing concern and employs a large number of workmen. The company had dismissed a workman of the name of Satya Ranjan Banerjee for absenteeism. That dismissal gave rise to an industrial dispute, which was referred by the respondent State Government to the Seventh Industrial Tribunal on October 26, 1961, for adjudication. While that reference was pending, the petitioner company dismissed the second, third and fourth respondents workmen for misconduct. Since the workmen were dismissed during the pendency of a proceeding before an Industrial Tribunal, the petitioner company made