Balakrishnan Nair, J.

The appellant was the writ petitioner. The Writ Petition was filed by the appellant, challenging Ext.P1 award of the Labour Court, Ernakulam, setting aside the order of dismissal passed by the appellant against the 1st respondent and ordering his reinstatement with 50% back wages and continuity of service.

2. The main contention raised before the learned Single Judge was that the Labour Court has no jurisdiction to deal with the matter after 2.1.2003, for the reason that with effect from that date Section 69 of the Kerala Co-operative Societies Act (for short "the Act") was amended, conferring jurisdiction on the Co-operative Arbitration Court to consider the disputes mentioned therein. Sub-section (2) of Section 69 clarifies that any dispute between the management of a Society and its employees, arising in connection with their employment, will also come under the purview of a dispute, for the purpose of Section 69 of the Act. In view of the enforcement of the amendment, the Labour Court lost jurisdiction to consider the disputes referred by the Government, it was contended. But, the learned Single Judge took the view that since the dispute was ref