- (1.) The appellant-M.P. Electricity Board in these appeals question the correctness of the judgment of the High Court of Judicature at Jabalpur whereby the High Court dismissed its writ petitions challenging the order of the Industrial Court, Bhopal Bench which in turn had directed to re-instate the respondents herein with 50% back wages.
(2.) Facts necessary for the disposal of these appeals are as follows: The respondents herein were engaged by the appellant-Board on daily wages for the purpose of digging pits for erecting electric poles. It is the case of the appellant that on completion of the said project of drawing electric lines from point to point, the employment of the respondents was terminated and whenever a similar occasion arose for digging pits they were re-employed on daily wages. Hence their employment was not permanent in nature nor in any one of the cases the respondents had completed 240 days of continuous work in any given year. The said project jobs have come to an end in 1991 and respondents were never re-employed by the Board.
(3.) Being aggrieved by the said non-employment, the respondents herein filed applications under Section 31 read with Section 61 of the M.P. Industrial Relations Act (M.P. Act) in January, 1993 before the Labour Court, Bhopal seeking permanent employment under the Board, primarily on the ground that they have completed 240 working days in a year and their discontinuation of service amounted to retrenchment without following the legal requirements.;