ORDER
1. The main point urged in support of this application for quashing a reference made under Section 10 (1) of the Industrial Disputes Act is that the employer company, closed the sugar mill in question with effect from the 10th March, 1964, and that many of the points referred to as being in dispute between the employer and their workmen in the aforesaid order of reference (Annexure D) deal with disputes that are likely to arise after the date of closure of the mill. It is, however, not denied that some of the items referred to in the order of reference deal with disputes between the employer and their workmen prior to the date of closure
2. The law on the subject is laid down in
Pipraich Sugar Mills Ltd. v. Pipraich Sugar Mills
Mazdoor Union, AIR 1957 SC 95 and subsequent
decisions. If the Govt. makes a reference under
Section 10, including in it several items in
dispute between the employer and the employees
and if the Tribunal concerned holds that, in
respect of some items in dispute, the order of
reference is incompetent in view of the aforesaid
decision of the Supreme Court, the Tribunal
itself must refuse to give any decision on those
points and confine its award only to those
disputes in respect of which a valid reference
is made and it has jurisdiction to adjudicate on
the same. Here, 101 points in dispute between
the employer and their workmen have been
referred for adjudication by the Presiding Officer. Industrial Tribunal It will not be proper
for this Court at this stage to examine every
item in dispute in detail and express its view
as to whether the dispute related to a matter
prior to the date of closure or to a matter
which arose after the date of closure All
these questions must be left open for decision
by the Tribunal. We cannot at this stage say
that the entire order of reference is wholly
without jurisdiction, and must be quashed.
Hence, without expressing our view on the
various points in dispute between the parties,
we would dismiss this implication with the
aforesaid observations. There will be no order
for costs.