Summarize the following court judgment. Civil Appeal No. 556 of 1966. 283 Appeal by special leave from the order dated August 13	 1964 of the Industrial Tribunal	 Andhra Pradesh in Industrial Dispute No. 41 of 1963. M.K. Ramamurthi	 Shyamala Pappu and Vineet Kumar	 for the appellants. K. Srinivasamurthy and Naunit Lal	 for the respondent. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Bhargava	 J. This appeal	 by special leave	 has arisen out of an award made 'by the Industrial Tribunal	 Andhra Pradesh	 at Hyderabad in an industrial dispute between the respondent	 the Imperial Tobacco Co.	 as well as exporting the tobacco to various (hereinafter referred to as "the Company")	 and its workmen. Admittedly	 the Company is an associate of the Imperial Tobacco Company Ltd.	 and the main business carried on by the Company is that of purchasing tobacco of all varieties and qualities	 stemming	 grading and packing of tobacco and supplying it to the Imperial Tobacco Co.	 as well as exporting the tobacco to various foreign countries in the world. The Company has been carrying on this business for about 40 years and handles almost 35 per cent of the tobacco grown in the State of Andhra Pradesh. For the work of stemming	 grading and packing tobacco	 the Company has two factories	 one at Anaparty in East Godavari District	 and the other at Chirala in Guntur District. In connection with this business	 the Company	 in the year 1962	 was maintaining 21 depots where	 according to the workmen	 the appellants	 the Company was carrying on the work of collecting tobacco	 though the Company 's case was that the principal work done at these depots was that of handling the tobacco purchased at other places and only included the work of purchasing tobacco on a small scale. On 16th August	 1963	 the Company gave a notice to the Union of the appellant workmen that 8 out of 21 depots mentioned therein would be closed down with effect from 30th September	 1963. Thereafter	 an industrial dispute was raised by the workmen which related to the closure of these 8 depots	 as well as to a number of other demands	 including revision of basic wages and dearness allowance	 additional discomfort allowance	 etc. The State Government	 by its Order dated 14th November	 1963	 referred the dispute for adjudication under section 10(1)(d) of the to the Industrial Tribunal	 Hyderabad. The first issue which was referred for adjudication	 was as follows : "How far the demands of the union	 viz.	 (i) that no depot which worked during 1962 season should. be closed	 and (ii) that no workman who worked in 1962 season 'should be retrenched	 are justified ?" 284 There were ten other issues	 but we need not reproduce them	 as we are not concerned with them in this appeal. In the proceedings for adjudication	 the Company took a preliminary objection that the closure the depots was a managerial function	 that there could not be an industrial dispute over such closure	 that the Government	 therefore	 had no power to refer this issue for adjudication	 and that the Tribunal also had no power to adjudicate on it. Thereupon	 the Tribunal framed a .preliminary issue as to "whether the employer is justified in alleging that Issue No. 1 framed by the Government cannot be deemed to relate to an industrial dispute	 and as such	 whether the Government had the power to refer it for adjudication". The Tribunal decided this preliminary issue by giving an interim award on the 13th August	 1964. The preliminary objection was allowed and a further direction was made that the effect of this decision on Issue No. 1 will be decided later after hearing the parties	 There	after	 the Tribunal proceeded to hear the reference on this question as well as on all other issues referred to it and '	 ultimately	 gave its award on 11th December	 1964. In that award	 both the parts of issue No. 1 were decided against the workmen. The workmen have now come up in this appeal against the interim award dated 13th August	 1964 as well as against the final award insofar as it relates to issue No. 1. The decision given by the Tribunal in the interim award	 holding that the reference covered by issue No. 1 was not competent	 has been challenged by learned counsel for the appellants on the ground that the closure of a depot does not amount to closure of business in law and	 since the same business was continued by the Company at at least 13 other depots	 the closure of the 8th depots in question was unjustified. For the proposition that the closure of the depots did not amount to closure of business	 learned counsel rolled on the views expressed by this Court in Pipraich Sugar Mills Ltd. vs Pipraich Sugar Mills Mazdoor Union(1)	 where the Court explained the reason for the decision given by the Labour Appellate Tribunal in the case of Employees of Messrs India Reconstruction Corporation Limited	 Calcutta vs Messrs. India Reconstruction Corporation Ltd.	 Calcutta(2). It	 however	 appears to us that this question raised on behalf of the appellants is totally immaterial insofar as. the question of the jurisdiction of the Tribunal to decide the first part of issue No. 1 is concerned. The closure of the 8 depots by the Company	 even if it is held not to amount to closure of business of the Company	 cannot be interfered with by an Industrial Tribunal if	 in fact	 that closure was genuine and real. The closure may be treated as stoppage of part of the activity or business of the Company. Such stoppage of part of a (1) (2) 63. 285 business is an act of management which is entirely in the discretion of the Company carrying on the business. No Industrial Tribunal	 even in a reference under section 10(1)(d) of the 	 can interfere with discretion exercised in such a matter and can have any power to direct a Company to continue a part of the business which the Company has decided to shut down. We cannot possibly accept the submission made on behalf of the appellants that a Tribunal under the has power to issue orders directing a Company to reopen a closed depot or branch	 if the Company	 in fact	 closes it down. An example may be taken of a case where a Bank with its headquarters in one place and a number of branches at different places decides to close down one of the branches at one of those places where it is functioning. We cannot see how	 in such a case	 if the employees of that particular branch raise an industrial dispute	 the Bank can be directed by the Industrial Tribunal to continue to run that branch. It is for the Bank to decide whether the business of the branch should be continued or not	 and No. Bank can be compelled to continue a branch which it considers undesirable to do. In these circumstances	 it is clear that the demand contained in the first part of Issue No. 1 was beyond the powers and jurisdiction of the Industrial Tribunal and was incorrectly referred. for adjudication to it by the State Government. of course	 if a Company closes down a branch or a depot	 the question can always arise as to the relief to which the workmen of that branch or depot are entitled and	 if such a question arises and becomes the subject matter of an industrial dispute	 an Industrial Tribunal will be fully competent to adjudicate on it. It is unfortunate that	 in this case	 when dealing with the preliminary issue	 the Tribunal expressed its decision in the interim award in general words holding that Issue No. 1 as a whole was beyond its jurisdiction. If the reasoning in the interim award is taken into account	 it is dear that the Tribunal on that reasoning only came to the conclusion that it was not competent to direct reopening of the 8 depots which had been closed	 so. that the Tribunal should have held that the first part of Issue No. 1 only was outside its jurisdiction. So far as the second part of that issue is concerned	 as we have said above	 it was competent for the Tribunal to go into it and decide whether the claim of the workmen that they should not be retrenched was justified. On an examination of the interim award and the final award	 we	 however	 find that the Tribunal in fact did (1) 286 do so. The case reported in Pipraich Sugar Mills Ltd.(1) was also concerned only with the question as to the relief that can be granted to workmen when there is closure of a business. No question arose either before the Court	 or in the cases considered by the Court	 of an Industrial Tribunal making a direction to the employers to continue to run or to reopen a closed branch of the business. The Labour Appellate Tribunal in the case of Employees of Messrs India Reconstruction Corporation Ltd.	 Calcutta(1) was dealing with the question of retrenchment compensation as a result of the closure of one of the units of the company concerned	 and it held that the workmen were entitled to retrenchment compensation in accordance with law. This Court	 in the case of Pipraich Sugar Mills Ltd. (2)	 only explained why the Labour Appellate Tribunal was justified in granting retrenchment compensation in that case. The opinion expressed by the Court was that	 though there is discharge of workmen both when there is retrenchment and closure of business	 the compensation is to be awarded under the law no.t for discharge as such but for discharge on retrenchment and if	 as is conceded	 retrenchment means in ordinary parlance discharge of the surplus	 it cannot include discharge on closure of business. It was in this context that the Court went on to add that in the case of Employees of M/s. India Reconstruction Corporation Ltd.	 Calcutta (1 ) what had happened was that one of the units of the Company had been closed which would be a case of retrenchment and not a case of closure of business. It may be noted that	 at the time when this decision was given	 section 25FF and section 25FFF had not been introduced in the 	 and the only right to retrenchment compensation granted to the workmen was conferred by section 25F. It was in the light of the law then prevailing that the Court felt that the decision of the Labour Appellate Tribunal in the case of Employees of M/s. India Reconstruction Corporation Lid(1) granting retrenchment compensation. could be justified on the ground that the services of the workmen had not been dispensed with as a result of closure cf business	 but as a result of retrenchment. That question does not arise in the case before us. Since then	 as we have indicated above	 section 25FF and section 25FFF have been added in the 	 and the latter section specifically lays down what rights a workman has when an undertaking is closed down. In a case where a dispute may arise as to whether workmen discharged are entitled to compensation under section 25F of section 25FFF it may become necessary decide Whether the closure	 as a result of which the services have been dispensed with	 amounts to a closure in law or not. In the case before us	 it was admitted by 1earned counsel for both parties that the workmen	 who have been discharged as a result of the closure of the 8 depots (1) (2) 287 of the Company	 have all been paid retrenchment compensation at the higher rate laid down in section 25F	 so that	 in this case	 it is not necessary to decide the point raised on 'behalf of the workmen. In connection with the second part of issue No. 1	 it was also urged by learned counsel for the appellants that the business	 which was being carried on at the 8 depots	 had not in fact been closed down and had merely been transferred to buying points situated in and around the closed depots	 including two new buying points established by the Company after the closure of these 8 depots. The argument was that the workmen were old employees who had served the Company for a long time and were entitled to certain benefits as a result of that long service. The Company closed these 8 depots mala fide with the object of depriving the workmen of those benefits. and merely altered the nature of the business by closing the depots and carrying on the stone business at the buying points. This point urged by learned counsel cannot	 however	 be accepted in view of the findings of fact recorded by the Tribunal. The Tribunal examined in detail the allegations made on behalf of the workmen in this respect. In fact	 the interim award mentions that	 for the purpose of deciding the preliminary issue and the first issue	 evidence was recorded by the Tribunal for more than a week and arguments of Advocates of the parties were heard for even a longer period. After examining the evidence	 the Tribunal came to the conclusion that the stoppage of the work at the depots was genuine and that the work which was being carried on at the depots had not been transferred to the buying points established by the Company. The closure of the business at the depots was necessitated by reasons of expediency inasmuch as the Company had to reduce its purchases in its quest for quality and its 'desire to run the business economically. The principal work	 which used to be done at the depots	 was not that of purchasing tobacco	 but of handling it and that work was not transferred at all to	 any buying point. The Tribunal	 thus	 came to the finding that the closure of these depots was real and genuine and that the suggestion of the appellants that only a device was adopted of carrying on the same business in a different manner had no force at all. if the same business had been continued	 though under a different guise	 the claim of the workmen not to be retrenched could possibly be considered by the Tribunal; but	 on the finding that there was a genuine closure of the business that used to be carried on at the depots	 no question could arise of the retrenchment being set aside by the Tribunal. The Tribunal could not ask the Company to re employ or reinstate the workmen	 because there was no business for which the workmen could be required. In these circumstances all that the workmen 288 could claim was compensation for loss of their service and in that respect	 as we have indicated above	 the workmen have received adequate compensation. Consequently	 the appeal has no force and is dismissed but we make no order as to. costs. V.P.S. Appeal dismissed. L2 S.C.I./69 2	500 6 I 70 GIPF.

The respondent was carrying on the business of purchasing	 handling and selling tobacco. In 1962	 it was maintaining 21 depots where the principal work was handling tobacco and the work of purchasing was done on a small scale. In 1963	 it gave notice that 8 out of the 21 depots would be closed down. An industrial dispute was raised by the workmen and the demands off the workmen	 namely: (1) that no depot worked during 1962 should be closed; and (2) no workman who worked in 1962 should be retrenched	 were referred to the Industrial Tribunal. The Tribunal held that the stoppage of work at the 8 depots and the closure was genuine and real	 that there was no transfer of the work that was being carried on at those depots to other buying points established by the respondent	 and repelled the suggestion of the appellants that it was a mala fide device adopted for carrying on the same business in a different manner	 and decided both the issues against the workmen. In appeal to this Court	 HELD ': (1) A genuine closure of depots or branches	 even though it did not amount to. closure of the business could not be interfered with by an Industrial Tribunal	 and therefore	 the issue was incorrectly referred by the Government for adjudication by the Tribunal. The closure is stoppage of p.art of the activity or business of the respondent. Such stoppage is an act of management which is entirely in the discretion of the respondent and n0. Industrial Tribunal can interfere with the discretion exercised in such a matter	 or can have the power to direct the respondent to continue a part of the 'business which it had decided to shut down. or direct it to reopen a closed depot or branch. [284 G H; 285 A C] (2) On that finding	 no question could arise of the retrenchment being set aside by the Tribunal	 because	 there was no business for which the workmen would be required. All that the workmen could claim was compensation for loss of the service	 and	 in a case where a dispute may arise as to whether workmen discharged are entitled t0 compensation under section 25F or section 25FFF	 of the 	 it may become necessary to decide whether the closure amounts to closure in law or not. But	 in the present case	 the workmen have all been paid retrenchment compensation at the higher rate laid down in section 25F and therefore	 received adequate compensation. [287 F H; 288 A]