PRAKASH ICE FACTORY Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A dispute having arisen between the petitioner-factory on the one hand, and respondents 4 to 13, on the other, the State Government by an order dated 10 February 1956 passed under Sections 3, 4 and 8 of the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, referred the following matters of dispute for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal at Allahabad :MATTERS OF DISPUTE (1) Whether the employers of the two concerns mentioned in the annexure A have wrongfully and/or unjustifiably reduced wages of their workmen mentioned in annexure B from January 1955 ? If so, to what relief are the workmen entitled ? (2) What should be the minimum wage of workmen employed in the two concerns mentioned in annexure A ?

(2.) A similar dispute also arose between the Lakshmi Ice Factory, Lucknow, and its workmen which likewise was referred to the same tribunal by an order of even date by the State Government. Civil Miscellaneous Application (O.J.) No. 15 of 1957, which has been heard along with the present petition, relates to the dispute between the Lakshmi Ice Factory and its workmen. As the points involved in both the petitions are identical, they have been heard together and we propose to dispose them of by this single judgment.

(3.) The dispute arose, as appears from a copy of the award of the tribunal (annexure B), because the factory had reduced the wages of its unskilled workmen. On behalf of the workmen exception was taken to the above act of the management. They further claimed that their minimum wages should not be below a certain amount asked by them. It was in this context that the two matters of dispute were referred to the tribunal. It is, however, not necessary for the purpose of the present case to mention them in further detail.