Continuity of service can only be granted when the termination and re-engagement are challenged and adjudicated upon. The court emphasized the need to consider the facts of each individual case.

JUDGMENT

Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J. - Civil Appeal No. 12011 of 2018 Leave granted.

This appeal arises from a judgment and order dated 25 April 2013 of the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature of Andhra Pradesh in Writ Appeal No.1665 of 2012.

2. By its judgment, the Division Bench affirmed the correctness of an order dated 04 September 2012 of a learned Single Judge.

3. The facts lie in a narrow compass.

4. In February, 2007, the respondent was appointed as a driver on contract, after undergoing a process of selection. He was working in the Waltair Depot in the district of Visakhapatnam with the appellant.

5. A disciplinary enquiry was held against the workman. Following the report of the Enquiry Officer, his services came to be terminated. After the dismissal of a departmental appeal, and in the course of a departmental review, the Regional Manager issued an order for the re-engagement of the respondent on contract on 3 February 2012. After his re-engagement, the respondent invoked the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and prayed for continuity of service together with consequential service benefits.

6. The learned Single Judge allowed the petition, holding that the matter was not res integra and was covered by an earlier judgment of a learned Single Judge dated 29 February 2012 in Writ Petition No.2786 of 2012. Though on behalf of the Corporation an effort was made to distinguish the earlier decision on the ground that in the present case a full-fledged enquiry has been held, this distinction did not find acceptance by the learned Single Judge. On the contrary, it was held that in the previous case, the learned Judge had found that the enquiry was not in keeping with the principles of natural justice. Moreover, in the view of the Single Judge, once the Corporation had granted a largesse in the form of a fresh employment, the workman should not be deprived of the benefit of continuity of service for the limited purpose of regularisation. Hence, in terms of the direction in the earlier decision, the petition was disposed of by directing the Corporation to extend the benefit of continuity of service to the workman from the date of termination until the date of his re-engagement except for the period when he was absent. This was, however, without any monetary benefit and was directed to count only for regularisation.

7. It is the above order of the learned Single Judge which was affirmed by the Division Bench in a Writ Appeal.

8. Mr. Gourab Banerji, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the appellants submits that there was a manifest error on the part of both the learned Single Judge and the Division Bench. In the present case, a disciplinary enquiry was held against the workman after which an initial decision was taken to terminate him from service. In a departmental review, he was granted fresh appointment. Neither the termination nor the order granting him fresh appointment as a contract driver were challenged. As a matter of fact, it has also been submitted that in certain other cases, the workmen had taken recourse to proceedings before the Industrial Court but in the present case that was not done. Be that as it may, the learned Single Judge relied on the earlier decision and issued directions, to govern the entire batch of cases. This direction was confirmed by the Division Bench without having regard to the facts of individual cases.

9. Since the order of the learned Single Judge in the present case, was exclusively based on the earlier decision dated 29 February 2012, a copy of that judgment has been placed on the record. The judgment of the Single Judge indicates that the earlier case also dealt with persons who were working as contract employees who were appointed after a regular selection. In some cases, termination orders were passed without an enquiry on allegations of misconduct while in other cases, an enquiry was conducted. The learned Single