K GOVARDHANA REDDY Vs. ASSISTANT ENGINEER CIVIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The five petitioners in this case are qualified Civil Engineers, whowere appointed as Work Inspectors on Daily wage basis from the various dates given in the affidavit filed in support of the Writ Petition. They had been working (ii) the end of May 1988 when their services were discontinued on the ground that they are work-charged employees on daily wage basis in accordance with Standard Schedule of Rates approved by the Board of Chief Engineers

(2.) The petitioners seek a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondentsto continue them in service with the same terms and conditions on which they were working.

(3.) The basic facts of the case are that the petitioners were engagedas work-charged employees on daily wage basis to complete the work on a project for the construction of Mother Dairy at Hayatnagar. The term of employment of the petitioners was for the duration of the work of Mother Dairy which was expressly stipulated and agreed to by the petitioners. It seems that the work of constructional the Mother Dairy at Hayatnagar was completed in the month of may, 1988. The petitioners were, therefore, requested orally to stop attending the work spot with effect from 1st of June 1988 in view of the fact that the work for which they were engaged was already over. The contention of the petitioners is that they have worked for more than 240 days and, therefore, they cannot be retrenched except in accordance with the provisions of Sec. 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (Act No 14 of 1947) hereinafter referred to, for short, as 'the Act', without one month's notice given to them in advance. They have also made an allegation in the additional affidavit filed by them that the list of seniority has not been maintained by the respondent Andhra Pradesh Daily Development Co-operative Federation Limited as required under Rule 79 of the A.P. Industrial Disputes Rules 1958 and further that three persons, viz , (1) Thajuddin (2) Muralikrishna and (3) Seshu who are juniors to the petitioners, are being continued in service.