Judgment :-

T.S. Thakur, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This appeal arises out of a judgment and order dated 27th April, 2011 passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Madras whereby Writ Appeal No.702 of 2011 and M.P. No.1 of 2011 filed by the appellant have been dismissed and order dated 28th February, 2011 passed by a learned Single Judge of that Court in Writ Petition No.8019 of 2010 affirmed.

3. The appellant-company is engaged in the manufacture of rubber products for various industrial applications. It had, at the relevant point of time, 877 employees in its establishment. As many as 488 of these employees were working as moulders to operate the rubber moulding machines. The moulding work involved placing rubber into the moulding press which would then be pressed into rubber components and marketed for varied industrial and commercial uses.

4. In March 1999, the management of the appellant-company required the workmen engaged as moulders to place their individual bags of production on the weighing scale at the end of their work shift. That procedure was observed for about a week whereafter 13 out of 488 moulders declined to abide by the instructions issued by the man