JUDGMENT

Syed Shah Mohammed Quadri, J.-Leave is granted.

2. The Judgment and order of a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay in Writ Petition No. 979 of 2000 passed on April 26, 2000, is brought under challenge in this appeal by special leave. Appellant No. 1 is Government of India Undertaking and appellant No. 2 is its General Manager (hereinafter they will be referred to as the management ). The first respondent is the union of workmen of appellant No. 1 and the second respondent is its member and a workman (hereinafter they will be referred to as the workmen ).

3. To comprehend the controversy in this appeal, narration of the following facts will be useful.

The management is running a canteen in compliance with the requirements of Section 46 of the Factories Act, 1948, in which the workmen were employed purporting to be the employees under a contractor. The litigation between the parties commenced with the filing of Writ Petition No. 2206 of 1997 by the workmen in the High Court of Judicature at Bombay seeking a direction that they (specified in the Annexure A thereto) be absorbed as regular employees of the management with party of pay-scales and other servi