Judgment :

1. Leave granted. This appeal has been preferred by the Appellant against the order dated 16th February, 2010 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in L.P.A. No. 1117 of 2009 (O & M). By the impugned order, the Division Bench upheld the judgment passed by the learned Single Judge with following observation:

"...several judgments have been delivered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, holding that reinstatement of a workman to a public post could not be allowed if the workman has not been recruited after following the mandatory requirement of Articles 14and 16 of the Constitution. The said judgment of learned Single, given in the year 1996, which is in conflict with above judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, cannot be followed."

2. The factual matrix of the case is as follows:

"The Appellant was a 'workman' within the meaning of Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 with the Respondent-Haryana Warehousing Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the "Corporation"), which is an 'Industry' within, the meaning of Section 2(j)of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Appellant had completed more than 240 days of service in the preceding calendar yea