G.P. Singh, J.

This order shall dispose of Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 421 and 460 of 1972.

These two petitions under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution are directed against two orders of the Industrial Court, Indore, passed on August 5, 1971 and April 17, 1972. The facts are that the Bhilai Steel Plant, which is an undertaking of Hindustan Steel Limited (a company in the public sector), introduced an incentive bonus scheme with effect from December 1, 1961 for some categories of workmen which in 1964 was extended to certain other categories. The workmen's demand, however, was that the scheme should be applied to all employees who are directly and indirectly contributing in the production and that the same should be made applicable from December 1, 1961. The Steel Workers Union, which is the representative union of employees, therefore, after the usual notice of change and failure of negotiations and conciliation, made a reference to the Industrial Court under section 52 of the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act, 1960, for arbitration of the following industrial dispute:

Whether all categories which are directly and/or indirectly contributing in the production bonus scheme such as ministerial staff, B.T.I. Staff and others should be brought within the scheme and paid incentive (production) bonus with retrospective effect i.e. with effect from 1-12-1961 of the appropriate group.

During the pendency of the said reference, a committee called the Joint Wage Negotiating Committee consisting of representatives of employers and employees in the steel industry was constituted at the national level for a final settlement on the wage structure and other conditions of service of employees in the industry. An agreement was reached by this committee which was incorporated in a memorandum of agreement dated October 27, 1970. Under clause 2-4 of this agreement it was decided to set up a Standardization Committee for completing the work of standardization. Clause 6-1 of the agreement deals with Incentive/Production bonus and it reads as follows:

6-1 Incentive/Production Bonus. The workers representatives demand that incentive/production bonus should be paid to all the employees and on the revised wages. The employers do not accept this contention and they have further stated that the industry is unable to undertake the additional financial burden on account of incentive/production bonus payment unless there is a rise in the level of productivity. However, it is agreed that:

(a) Some marginal increase in incentive bonus on account of the revision of the schemes at the current level of productivity cannot be ruled out.

(b) In the meanwhile incentive production bonus shall continue to apply as hitherto to those employees who are covered by such schemes. The question of extension of incentive bonus scheme to other categories of workers will be referred to Standardization Committee set up under clause 2-4 of the Agreement.

(c) In case any worker in the bonus group is transferred to non-bonus group his total emoluments including the average incentive bonus earned by him during the preceding twelve months will be protected.

On April 29, 1971 an application was made before the Industrial Court on behalf of Bhilai Steel Plant narrating the agreement reached by the Joint Wage Negotiating Committee at the national level and alleging that the terms of that agreement have been accepted by an agreement reached between the parties to the reference, i. e. the management and the Steel Workers Union. Copies of the two agreements were annexed to the application. It was contended in the application that the subject-matter of the reference was fully covered by the said agreements and that (he dispute no longer survived. It was prayed in the application that the reference be brought to an end on the ground that it had become in fructuous in view of the agreement reached between the parties. In the alternative it was prayed that an award in terms of clause