GENERAL MANAGER INTEGRAL COACH FACTORY Vs. S VENKATESAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CHALLENGE in this Writ Petition is the award of the Second Respodent/Labour Court in I.D.No,461/2001 dated 11.04.2002.

(2.) THE brief facts in a nutshell are as follows:- (i) 1st Respondent/Workman joined in the service of the Second Petitioner on 30.11.1988 as a peon. After 360 days of continuous service, 1st Respondent was granted "temporary status" w.e.f. 24.11.1989 and designated as Project Casual Labourer by Order 08.12.1989. By Order dated 06.07.1990, 1st Respondent was transferred to the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Madras and posted as Bungalow Lascar in ICF. By Order dated 11.08.1990, 1st Respondent was designated as Substitute Bungalow Lascar w.e.f. 12.07.1990 to one S. Jayamohan, while he was posted as CMM/Shell/ICF. By order of the 2nd Petitioner, dated 2.11.1990, the service of 1st Respondent was terminated retrospectively w.e.f. 30.10.1990, without notice. (ii) 1st Respondent was again engaged as Lascar w.e.f. 14.12.1991 and he was terminated on 30.09.1991, without notice. Challenging the order of termination, 1st Respondent preferred an Appeal to the 1st Petitioner, which was in turn forwarded to General Manager, South Eastern Railway, Calcutta and 2nd Petitioner. Since, the Appeal was dismissed, 1st Respondent filed 2-A Petition for Conciliation before the Assistant Regional Labour Commissioner, which ended in failure. (iii) Aggrieved, 1st Respondent preferred an Industrial Dispute in I.D.No,982/2001 on the file of 2nd Respodent, which by award dated 11.04.2002 held that the 1st Respondent is entitled to be reinstated into service and the 1st Petitioner was directed to consider the reinstatement of the Workman for regular absorption as Gr. "D" post in the next immediate arising vacancy.

(3.) CHALLENGING the impugned award, the learned Central Government Standing Counsel for the Petitioners Mr. V. Radhakrishnan, has submitted that the Labour Court erred in ordering reinstatement. 1st Respondent was appointed as Substitute Bungalow Lascar and the appointment of Bungalow Lascar is a choice appointment and are engaged by the Officer, to whom they are attached and they are liable to be discharged without any notice. The Bungalow Peons are not Railway employees and that only on completion of three years either with the same Officer or more than one Officer, Bungalow Peons will be given the same rights as regularly recruited Peons and therefore 1st Respondent's earlier services cannot be taken into account for the purpose of his regularisation.