A Labour Court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate without explicit specification by the State Government under Section 33-C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act.

1. This petition comes before us on an order of reference made by a Division Bench of this Court which is extracted bellows.
27-11-1967 in this case the interpretation of S.33 - C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act arises for consideration. The contention of Mr. Bhattacharjee is that unless the Labour Court is specified by the State Government under this sub-section, the Labour Court in question would not get jurisdiction to decide the matter whereas Mr. Choudhuri contended that as there is only one Labour Court in the whole State, there is no need to specify the particular Court and that the Labour Court has jurisdiction to entertain the matter. In support of this argument he places reliance on a Division Bench decision of this Court in the case of Sudhindra Kumar Deb v. State of Assam , AIR 1959 Assam 1. It is contended by Mr. Bhattacharjee that the observations made in that case are more or less obiter and need not be considered for the decision of this case. However, the pronouncement is fairly specific and clear in that decision. We would, therefore, like the whole matter to be settled once for all by referring the matter to a Full Bench. The matter will be heard by the C.J., Justice Sen and Justice Pathak on 1st February, 1968.
(Sd.) C. Sanjeeva Row Nayudu,
Chief Justice.
(Sd.) M.C. Pathak,
Judge."

2. Two points arise for consideration in this reference : (1) Whether an application for computation of a workman's entitlement under S. 33 - C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter called 'the Act') could be made to a Labour Court without the same having been specified by the State Government in regard to the dispute that is to be referred to under S. 33 - C(2), and (2) whether the workman could refer the dispute under S. 33 - C(2) directly to the Labour Court and not by an application to the State Government.

3. Before we consider these points, it would be useful to extract the relevant provisions of the Act. The relevant provisions of S. 7 of the Act, which deals with Labour Courts, is as follows :
"7.(1) The appropriate Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, constitute one or more Labour Courts for adjudication of industrial disputes relating to any matters specified in the Second Schedule and for performing such other functions as may be assigned to them under this Act.
The Second Schedule to the Act contains the list of matters, which fall within the jurisdiction of the Labour Courts. S.33 - C runs as follows : -
"33 - C. Recovery of money due from an employer. - (1) Where any money is due to a workman from an employer under a settlement or an award or under the provisions of Chap. V - A, the workman may, without prejudice to my other mode of recovery, make an application to the appropriate Government for the recovery of the money due to him, and if the appropriate Government is satisfied that any money is so due, it shall issue a certificate for that amount to the Collector who shall proceed to recover the same in the same manner as an arrear of land revenue.
(2) Where any workman is entitled to receive from the employer any benefit which is capable of being computed in terms of money, the amount at which such benefit should be computed may, subject to any rules that may be made under this Act, be determined by such Labour Court as may be specified in this behalf by the appropriate Government, and the amount so determined may be recovered as provided for in Sub-Section (1).
3. For the purposes of computing the money value of a benefit, the Labour Court may, if it so thinks fit, appoint a Commissioner who