K NARAYANAN Vs. INDIAN AIRLINES LIMITED SOUTHERN REGION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN these three writ petitions, three erstwhile casual employees/drivers who were working under the first respondent INdian Airlines (I. A.) are aggrieved by their non-selection and appointment as regular Drivers.

(2.) IN W. P. No. 40768 of 2002, the petitioner states that he is a qualified automobile driver having obtained a valid driving licence in the year 1985. Subsequently, he obtained endorsement to drive heavy vehicles from the year 1991. He has been continuously working as a driver with good experience. He was also working as a casual driver with the first respondent on and from 18. 11. 1995 to 23. 3. 2001. The practice adopted by INdian Airlines was to engage casuals for a maximum period of 180 days and give them an artificial break when they were about to complete 180 days. The said practice was adopted for the purpose of depriving the benefits of an employee becoming permanent. Though there are large number of vacancies, the Airlines was adopting the practice of maintaining a list of casuals. Such method is adopted only to avoid benefits due to permanent employees. The petitioner was serving the Airlines sincerely and faithfully for about eleven years. During the period when he was kept out of job, he was doing regular work in private transports as detailed in the affidavit.

(3.) AS regards employment notice issued during 1997, the petitioner was empanelled in the merit list and appointments were made only in the order of merit and the petitioner could not be appointed as there were no adequate vacancies during the validity of the panel which expired on 19. 4. 2000. The various other contentions raised by the petitioner in the context of experience and qualifications of respondents-2 to 4 were also denied.