1987 INSC 0141
                         Dakshin Railway Employees Union, Trivandrum Division

                                                           Vs

                                General Manager, Southern Railway and Others

                                      Writ Petition (Civil) No. 332 of 1986

                                     (O. Chinnappa Reddy, S. Natarajan JJ)

                                                      23.02.1987

                                                        ORDER

CHINNAPPA REDDY, J. -

A Division Bench of this Court consisting of Desai and Ranganath Misra. JJ. gave certain directions
in Inder Pal Yadav v. Union of India ((1985) 2 SCC 648 : 1985 SCC (L&S) 526), modifying a
scheme prepared by the Railway Administration for the purpose of absorbing 'retrenched Railway
Casual Labour'. Incorporating the directions of the court, the Railway Board issued a circular to the
General Managers of all Indian Railways, paragraph 5.1 of which is relevant and is as follows :

                  "5.1. As a result of such deliberations, the Ministry of Railways have now decided in
                  principle that casual labour employed on projects (also known as "Project casual
                  labour") may be treated as temporary on completion of 360 days of continuous
                  employment. The Ministry have decided further as under :

                  (a) These orders will cover :

                  (i) Casual labour on projects who were in service as on January 1, 1981; and

                  (ii) Casual labour on projects, who, though not in service on January 1, 1981, had
                  been in service on Railways earlier and had already completed the above prescribed
                  period (360 days) of continuous employment or have since completed or will
                  complete the said prescribed period of continuous employment on re-engagement
                  aftetr January 1, 1981.

                  (b) The decision should be implemented in a phased manner according to the
                  schedule given below :

                  #Length of service (i.e. continuous Date from whichemployment) may betreated as
                  temporary(i) Those who have completed five years 1-1-1981of service as on 1-1-
                  1981;(ii) Those who have completed three years 1-1-1982but less than five years of
                  service as on1-1-1981;(iii) Those who have completed 360 days but 1-1-1983but less
                  than three years of service as on1-1-1981;(iv) Those who complete 360 days after 1-
                  1-1984 or1-1-1981. the date on which 360 days are completed whichever is late.##

2. The petitioners before us who are 149 in number claim that they are entitled to the benefits of the
modified scheme and they pray that they should be forthwith taken back into employment. The
Railway Administration admits that 84 of the petitioners are entitled to the benefits of the scheme as
they were in employment on January 1, 1981 and that the remaining 65 petitioners are not entitled
to the benefits of the scheme as they were not in service on January 1, 1981 having been retrenched
sometime prior to the date. The contention of the Railway Administration is clearly wrong in view
of the express provisions in paragraph 5.1. (a)(ii) that "these orders will cover casual labour on
projects, who, though not in service on January 1, 1981, had been in service on Railways earlier and
had already completed the above prescribed period (360 days) of continuous employment or have
since completed or will complete the said prescribed period of continuous employment on re-
engagement after January 1 1981." A direction will, therefore, issue to the respondents to include
the petitioners in the scheme for absorption as formulated pursuant to the directions of the court.

3. Shri Krishnamurthy, learned counsel for the Railway Administration brings to our notice the
difficulty which will be experienced by the Railway Administration if without any limitation
persons claiming to have been employed as casual labour prior to January 1, 1981 keep coming
forward to claim the benefits of the scheme. We understand the difficulty of the Administration and
we therefor, direct that all persons who desire to claim the benefits of the scheme on the ground that
they had been retrenched before January 1, 1981 should submit their claims to the Administration
before March 31, 1987. The Administration shall then consider the genuineness of the claims and
process them accordingly. The writ Petition is allowed accordingly.

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