ANANTA KISHORE ROUT Vs. NATIONAL ALUMINIUM COMPANY LTD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Teaching and Non -Teaching Staff of two Schools, namely, Saraswati Vidya Mandir (in sort, S.V.M.) located at Nalco Nagar in Angul District and at Damanjodi in Koraput District, have filed these two Writ Petitions under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, with a prayer to direct the National Aluminium Company Ltd. (in short, NALCO) to treat them as the employees of NALCO and to give them all consequential benefits as are extended to the employees of NALCO. As the facts and points of law involved in both these Writ Petitions are same, they were heard analogously and are being disposed of by this common Judgment.

(2.) THE brief facts, as delineated in the Writ Petitions, tend to reveal that the National Aluminium Company Ltd. (NALCO), which is a company incorporated and registered under the Companies Act, 1956 and is a Government of India Enterprise having its Registered Office at Bhubaneswar, is engaged in manufacture and production of Alumina and Aluminium in its manufacturing units at Damanjodi in Koraput district and at Angul. In the year 1984, NALCO established two Schools in the townships set up by it for its employees working in its manufacturing units at NALCO Nagar, Angul and at Damanjodi, with a view to provide educational facility mainly to the children of its employees from Primary to +2 level. It also provided necessary infrastructure, such as land, building, furniture, library, laboratory equipments and other assets. The said Schools admittedly are unaided Private Schools. On 15.5.1985 NALCO entered into two separate but identical agreements for the aforesaid Schools with the Central Chinmoy Mission Trust, Bombay (in short, C.C.M.T.), whereunder the NALCO entrusted the management of the Schools on contract basis to C.C.M.T. and the Schools were called Chinmay Vidyalayas. Copy of one such agreements is Annexure -1 to W.P.(C) No. 15269/2001. According to the said agreements, NALCO agreed to pay an amount of Rs. 10,000/ - per annum to C.C.M.T. as donation towards the supervision charges for each School. The C.C.M.T. managed the Schools from the year 1985 to 1990. On termination of the aforesaid agreements with C.C.M.T., NALCO requested another organisation, namely, Sikhya Vikas Samiti, Orissa, (in short, S.V.S.), which is affiliated to Vidya Bharati Akhila Bharatiya Sikhya Sansthan, to manage the said Schools and entered into an agreement with S.V.S. on 18th May 1990 for both the Schools, vide Annexure -1 to O.J.C.No.11761/2001 and Annexure -2 to O.J.C. No. 15269 12001. In terms of the said agreement dated 18.5.1990, the S.V.S. is now managing the Schools, which have been re -named as Saraswati Vidya Mandir ('SVM', in short) and NALCO was initially paying Rs. 2,000/ - per month to the S.V.S. towards its supervision charges, which has been subsequently enhanced to Rs. 50,000/ - per annum. The Schools are at present running in the campus of NALCO and a number of Teaching and Non -Teaching Staff have been engaged. Since the Teaching and Non -Teaching Staff working in the aforesaid Schools had no service conditions, there was discontentment among the employees.

(3.) DURING the course of hearing, our attention was drawn to the orderdated 12.4.2006 passed in O.J.C.11761/2001 which shows that Mr. B.N.Rath, Learned Counsel appearing for the S.V.M. (O.P.5), had submitted that S.V.M. had no counter affidavit to file and S.V.M. would rely on the counter affidavit filed by the NALCO. Order dated 20.4.2006 shows that Mr. Sarbeswar Behera, Learned Counsel, appeared for the S.V.S., O.P.4, but thereafter, Mr. Anup Kumar Bose, Learned Counsel appeared for S.V.S. and filed its counter affidavit in O.J.C.No.11761 /2001. In O..I C 15269/2001 the order dated 28.6.2006 shows that Mr. A.K. Bose, Learned Counsel appearing for S.V.S., submitted that it was the educational agency which runs the S.V.Ms, and the S.V.S. was not the educational agency in respect of the Schools in question but it was NALCO and the S.V.S., which were jointly the educational agencies. Mr. B.N. Rath, Learned Counsel appearing for the NALCO, refuting the said statement of Mr. Bose, submitted that it was the S.V.S., which runs the Schools and the said S.V.S. was the educational agency.