(1.) This group o petitions challenges four sets of identical awards passed by Labour Courts at Pune on references made to them under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. By the impugned awards, the references, made at the instance of workmen of the Respondent, were answered in the negative by the courts. The second party workmen, who are Petitioners herein, challenge the awards on various grounds.
(2.) A brief history of the matter, as culled out from the petitions, may be noted as follows :
(3.) Writ Petition No.4502 of 2006 is treated as a lead petition for passing of this order. The discussion of facts and submissions in the following order, accordingly, corresponds to this petition, though, broadly speaking, the facts of all cases are more or less similar and all petitions can conveniently be disposed of by this common order.