K.K. Narendran, J.

1. Some nice questions in industrial law arise for consideration in this case. The questions are: (1) When there is already a conciliation settlement under S.12 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 for short the Act, can there be an arbitration under S.10A of the Act? (2) Is an arbitration under S.10A possible without a written agreement signed by the management and all the unions? (3) If a conciliation settlement provides for an arbitration of the disputes and differences regarding interpretation and implementation of the settlement, what is the scope of that arbitration? (4) By such an informal arbitration can the settlement be annulled or its terms varied? and (5) For such an arbitration should all the unions make a joint request or is it enough that the aggrieved union alone need move for the same?

2. The simple facts of the case are: The petitioners and respondents 2 to 6 are the different unions of the employees of the 1st respondent Fertilizers and Chemicals, Travancore, Ltd., a public sector undertaking. The petitioners claim that they represent 2300 out of the 3000 employees of the Udyogamandal Division of the 1st respondent Company. A long term se