Whether there was an industrial dispute as defined by the Act to justify a reference by the Government to the Industrial Tribunal for adjudication is the question which the petitioners want to be determined at this stage. The validity of the reference under S. 10(1)(c) of the Industrial Disputes Act by the Government cannot be challenged by an application for the issue of a writ of certiorari, because in making the order of reference, the Government was only doing a ministerial or administrative act. It has been held in more cases than one that despite the fact that the validity of the reference itself cannot be challenged by an application for the issue of a writ of certiorari to quash the order of reference, the question whether a given dispute is an industrial dispute has yet to be decided. It is primarily for the Industrial Tribunal to decide that issue. If there is no industrial dispute at all as defined by the Act the Industrial Tribunal would obviously have no further jurisdiction to adjudicate any dispute. Possibly, it may be desirable for the Industrial Tribunal to decide that issue as a preliminary issue. But at this stage neither a writ of prohibition can issue, nor a writ of mandamus can issue. As the proceedings are pending, the Industrial Tribunal, as I said, has jurisdiction to decide the question whether an industrial dispute existed.
The petition is dismissed.
V.C.S