Judgment

SEN, J. :- The controversy in these two appeals by special leave against a judgment of the Bombay High Court and an order of the President, Industrial Court, Bombay, turns on the construction of the expression continuous service as defined in Section 2 (c) of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.

2. The facts giving rise to these appeals are these : Eighty-five permanent employees of the respondent who were on the regular muster roll, on termination of their employment, made a claim for payment of gratuity for the entire period of their service, i. e., in respect of every year during which they were in permanent employment, irrespective of the fact whether they had actually worked for 240 days in a year or not. Twentyfive badli employees of the respondent, who were on the badli register upon being made permanent, made a similar claim for payment of gratuity for the badli period, i.e., in respect of the period prior to their being made permanent, irrespective of the fact whether in those years they had been actually employed for 240 days or not. The respondent, however, calculated the number of years in which these employees were actually employed for at least 240 days in a year