JUDGMENT :

Jahangir Jamshed Munir, J.

1. All these writ petitions call in question a notification issued by the State Government in exercise of their power under sub-section (1) of Section 17 of the Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Misc. Provisions Act, 1995 (for short the Act), whereby the Government have delegated their powers under Section 17(1) last mentioned to officers specified in the 2nd Column of the Schedule appended to the aforesaid notification. In Column 3 of the Schedule appended to the notification aforesaid, the territories in respect of which each of the officers mentioned in Column 2 would exercise jurisdiction, have been shown, and referred to as the notified area there. The aforesaid notification is hereinafter referred to as the impugned notification.

In exercise of powers conferred by the impugned notification, the officers delegated those powers have made references of disputed claims to wages payable under the Act, relating to their notified area between the petitioners in each of the writ petitions, and the concerned workman, to the Labour Court exercising jurisdiction in that area. These reference orders are, there