Thereafter, the respondent moved the Government to take action in the matter, and the result was that on November 16,1951, the U. P. Government issued a notification under section 3 of the U. P. Industrial Disputes Act XXVIII of 1947, hereinafter referred to as the Act, referring the following dispute to the adjudication of the Industrial Tribunal: "Whether the services of workmen, if so how many, were terminated by the concern known as Pipraich Sugar Mills Ltd., Pipraich, District Gorakhpur, without settlement of their due claims and improperly; and if so, to what relief are the workmen concerned entitled?" By its award dated February 28,1952, the Indus 879 trial Tribunal held firstly that the closure of the business and the sale of the machinery by the appellant was bona fide, as it had been continuously incurring losses and the supply position of sugarcane held out no immediate prospects of improvement, that the conduct of the workmen had been throughout unfair and such as to disentitle them to compensation but that the promise contained in the letters dated January 3 and 10, 1951, to pay 25 per cent.