P.R. Ramachandra Menon, J.

1. Would the 'non-renewal' of licence issued to a contractor under the relevant provisions of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition)Act,1970 ['CLRA Act' in short], that too for a short period, grant any automatic/vested right to the workers engaged by the contractor to raise a claim for being treated as employees of the principal employer? Will it amount to a 'dispute' as envisaged under section 2(k) of the Industrial Disputes Act, if any such claim is raised by the workers/Unions and is it obligatory for the Conciliation Officer to have the issue conciliated and on failure, to send a referral report to the Government for causing adjudication? These are the legal issues involved in this appeal.

2. The challenge is mainly against the verdict passed by the learned Single Judge, whereby the claim of the Union /writ petitioner has been accepted, setting aside the impugned order and directing the conciliation authority to have the matter conciliated, despite the fact that the claim for regularisation raised by the Unions earlier, was adjudicated by the Labour Court, Ernakulam in I.D.No. 154/1995 holding it against the workers/Unions.

3. The appell