'"Appropriate Government" means in relation to any industrial dispute concerning any industry carried on by or under the authority of the Central Government or by a Railway Company or concerning any such controlled industry as may be specified in this behalf by the Central Government, or in relation to an industrial dispute concerning a banking or an insurance company, a mine, an oil field or a major port, the Central Government.'
The argument is that as sugar is a controlled industry under the Schedule to the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, No. 65 of 1951, the appropriate Government for the purposes of Section 2(a)(i) with reference to the sugar industry is the Central Government. Reliance is placed on the words 'concerning any such controlled industry as may be specified in this behalf by the Central Government' appearing in Section 2(a)(i). It is true that sugar is a controlled industry under the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 but that in our opinion does not conclude the matter. In order that the appropriate Government under Section 2(a)(i) may be the Central Government for a controlled industry, it is necessary that such controlled industry should be specified by the Central Government for the purposes of Section 2(a)(i). This in our opinion is obvious from the words 'controlled industry as may be specified in this behalf by the Central Government' appearing in Section 2(a)(i). It is not enough that an industry should be a controlled industry to attract this provision of Section 2(a)(i); it is further necessary that it should be specified in this behalf, namely for the purposes of Section 2(a)(i), as a controlled industry by the Central Government, before the Central Government can become the appropriate Government within the meaning of Section 2(a)(i). We may in this connection refer to Firebricks & Potteries Ltd. v. Firebricks & Potteries Ltd. Workers Union Ltd. 1956-I-LLJ-571, where the same view has been taken.