JUDGMENT Surya Kant, C.J. (Oral) - The petitioner is aggrieved by Order dated 28.07.2017 (Annexure A-1), addressed by the Regional Labour Commissioner (C), Government of India to the Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, New Delhi, copy whereof has also been forwarded to the petitioner, referring therein that "every effort was made for an amicable settlement of the dispute but due to divergent views of the parties, conciliation ended in failure. The representative of the workman was agreeable to the suggestions for settling the dispute through voluntary arbitration or joint reference for adjudication to which the representative of the management was not agreeable stating that their action is correct and justified". 2. It is true that ordinarily the appropriate Government will not enter into the merits of the Industrial Dispute, for such a power is exclusively vested in the Labour Court-cum-Industrial Tribunal, however, it is well settled that the dispute, if any, ought to be raised within a reasonable period, as the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 does not prescribe any time limit for referring such disputes. In the instant case, the petitioner-workman was allegedly engaged in the year 1969 and he worked as such till the year 1984, when he was discharged from service. The petitioner has given no convincing explanation as to what prevented him from questioning his discharge from employment within a reasonable time. It is in this backdrop that the appropriate Government has declined to treat it as an Industrial Dispute after about 30 years. 3. It can be safely inferred that either it was a case of abandonment of employment or the petitioner got employed somewhere else and had no grievance against his discharge by the respondent-Department. 4. Taking into consideration the totality of the circumstances, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned Order dated 28th July 2017 (Annexure A-1) issued by the Regional Labour Commissioner (C), Government of India. 5. With the aforesaid observations, the writ petition stands disposed of, so also miscellaneous applications, if any.