ORDER :

Michael Zothankhuma, J.

1. Heard Mr. D. Das, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioners, assisted by Mr. P. Choudhury. Mr. S. Borthakur appears for respondent Nos. 5 to 17, Mr. K. Gogoi, learned CGC appears for respondent Nos. 1 to 4 and Mr. P. Sengupta appears for the respondent No. 18.

2. The issue to be decided in the present case is whether the Central Government or the State Government is the appropriate Government for referring the dispute between the parties, in terms of Section 2(a) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

3. The petitioner's case in brief is that the petitioner No. 1 is a registered Company under the Companies Act, 1956 having corporate Identity number given in the year 2009 to 2010 and having its corporate Office at Mumbai and Sales Office at Guwahati. The petitioner's Company is in the business of manufacturing, selling and servicing of fuel dispensing units.

4. The petitioner's counsel submits that the petitioner had taken over and acquired Midco Ltd., which was engaged in a similar business as that of the petitioner. Thereafter, the employees of the erstwhile Midco Ltd. were transferred by the petitioner to its sister concern i.e., M/s. Monal