Operative appellate decision, controlled industry reference, and industrial dispute satisfaction limited writ interference in this challenge.
A statutory appellate decision that substitutes the original award remains the operative order, so certiorari cannot issue against it when the record lies outside the Court's jurisdiction; the underlying award also cannot be separately quashed once merged into that decision. A controlled industry does not place industrial-dispute references within the Central Government's competence unless it is separately specified for that purpose, so the State Government remained the appropriate Government. The existence of an industrial dispute, including retrenchment-related non-employment disputes raised by a union, was a matter for governmental satisfaction and was not shown to be perverse or incompetent. The challenge therefore failed.
Issues: (i) Whether the award of the adjudicator and the appellate decision could be quashed in writ jurisdiction when the appellate tribunal had ceased to exist and its record was outside the Court's territorial jurisdiction; (ii) whether the State Government lacked competence to make the reference because the petitioner's industry was a controlled industry for which the Central Government was the appropriate Government; (iii) whether the reference was invalid because no industrial dispute in fact existed or because the dispute was not one capable of being referred under the Industrial Disputes law.
Issue (i): Whether the award of the adjudicator and the appellate decision could be quashed in writ jurisdiction when the appellate tribunal had ceased to exist and its record was outside the Court's territorial jurisdiction.
Analysis: The award made by the adjudicator had been carried in appeal and had been substituted by the appellate decision under the statutory scheme. The Court held that the appellate decision continued to exist and that the record containing that decision had been transferred outside its jurisdiction. The mere presence of a copy of the decision within jurisdiction did not amount to possession of the record against which certiorari could issue. Since the appellate decision could not be quashed, the award merged into it and also could not be separately quashed.
Conclusion: The writ of certiorari was not available to quash either the appellate decision or the adjudicator's award.
Issue (ii): Whether the State Government lacked competence to make the reference because the petitioner's industry was a controlled industry for which the Central Government was the appropriate Government.
Analysis: The Court held that a controlled industry did not become subject to the Central Government for industrial disputes unless it was separately specified by the Central Government for that purpose. Registration or licensing under the industrial development legislation did not amount to such specification. As no separate specification existed for the petitioner's industry, the State Government remained the appropriate Government and could validly act under the U. P. industrial disputes law.
Conclusion: The reference was validly made by the State Government, not by the Central Government.
Issue (iii): Whether the reference was invalid because no industrial dispute in fact existed or because the dispute was not one capable of being referred under the Industrial Disputes law.
Analysis: The Court held that the existence of an industrial dispute and the necessity or expediency of reference were matters for the Government's satisfaction and could not be reopened in writ proceedings. The dispute related to retrenchment, which fell within non-employment, and a union representing the workmen could competently raise the dispute on their behalf. The Court found no basis to hold that the Government's satisfaction was perverse or that the reference was incompetent.
Conclusion: The reference was not invalid on the ground that no industrial dispute existed or that the dispute was outside the statutory definition.
Final Conclusion: The impugned notification, award, and appellate decision were upheld in consequence, and the petition failed in its entirety.
Ratio Decidendi: A statutory appellate decision that substitutes the original award continues to exist as the operative decision, and certiorari cannot be issued against it when the record is outside jurisdiction; a controlled industry requires separate Central Government specification for industrial-dispute purposes, and the Government's satisfaction on the existence of an industrial dispute is ordinarily not justiciable in writ proceedings.
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