Ruma Pal, J. - (1.) The appellant is a Government company within the meaning of Section 617 of the Companies Act. It carries on construction activities at various sites throughout the country and abroad. The respondent-Union represents the cause of 168 muster roll employees. The respondents were working at the bridge construction unit of the appellant at Kanpur in various capacities. The terms and conditions of employees of the appellant are governed by Standing Orders Certified under the U.P. Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, clause L-2.12 of which reads:"Any workman who remains absent from duty without leave or in excess of the period of leave originally sanctioned or subsequently extended for more than 10 consecutive days, shall be deemed to have left the services of the Corporation on his own accord, without notice, thereby terminating his contract of service with the Corporation and his name will accordingly be struck off the rolls."
(2.) From 12th October, 1995 the respondents-workmen did not attend their jobs. On 18th October, 1995 the appellant issued an order which is quoted: "Some of the workmen working at Betwa Bridge, Arichghat, Jhansi are absenting from duty since 12-10-1995. Direction for smooth functioning of the work in the interest of the Corporation has already been given vide this Office Notice No. 1102/1E/126 dated 16-10-1995 to such workmen. In the light of the aforesaid, it is made clear that such of the workmen who do not present themselves for duty and do not perform work or discharge their duty, then in accordance with the provision contained in Clause L-02.12 of the Certified Standing Order of the U.P. State Bridge Corporation Ltd. such of the workmen, who are continuously absent for more than 10 days, in respect of them, it shall be presumed that they have left the services of the Corporation without any notice and thus, their contract of service with the Corporation has come to an end and accordingly their names from the muster roll shall be removed action shall be taken in the interest of the Corporation."
(3.) On 22nd December 1995 as amended on 28th December 1995 a similar notice was published in a Hindi Newspaper which also stated that if the workmen whose names were appended to the notice did not report for duty within a period of three days from the date of the publication of the notice, it would be presumed that they had abandoned their services which the Corporation without notice and their contract of service would come to an end and their names would be removed from the muster roll. According to the appellant despite the repeated notices the workmen continued to absent themselves and ultimately on 19th January, 1996 an order was issued putting an end to the services of 168 workmen on the presumption that they had abandoned their services with the Corporation on their own.;