Nainar Sundaram, Ag. CJ.

There are certain broad features common to these cases. There may be features peculiar and distinct to some of these cases, but they have no relevance at all for purpose of deciding the question that gets posed before us. There were settlements arrived at in the course of conciliation proceeding and otherwise than in the course of conciliation proceedings under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, hereinafter referred to as 'the Act', fitting in with Sections 12(3) and 18(1) of the Act, as the cases may be. All the formalities regarding such settlements, as per the pre-requisites of the Act, have been satisfied. The settlements were between the concerned co-operative societies on the one hand and their employees on the other. The settlements concerned the wages structures for the employees in the Cooperative societies. In the settlements, the Cooperative societies were represented by the office bearers of the elected bodies who were in charge of the management of the co-operative societies. Only subsequently, the elected bodies have been dislodged and special officers have come into the picture. The contesting respondents raise ascertain queries co