Judgment

K. JAOANNATHA SHETTY, J.

(1) THE Tamil Nadu government passed an Act called the Tamil Nadu Industrial Establishments (Conferment of Permanent Status to Workmen) Act, 1981 ("the Act") which came into force on 1/01/1982. The Act was to confer permanent status to workmen in various industrial establishments who have put in continuous service for a period of 480 days in a period of 24 calendar months in an industrial establishment. S. 3 is a crucial provision in the Act. It reads as under:

"S. 3. Conferment of permanent status to workmen. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force every workman who is in continuous service for a period of four hundred and eighty days in a period of twenty-four calendar months in an industrial establishment shall be made permanent.

(2) A workman shall be said to be in continuous service for a period if he is, for that period, in uninterrupted service, including service which may be interrupted on account of sickness or authorised leave or an accident or a strike, which is not illegal, or a lockout or on account of non-employment or discharge of such workman for a period which does n