ORDER :

Application for permission to file SLP in Special Leave Petition (C) No. 1471 of 2003 is allowed.

Delay condoned in filing and refiling of Special Leave Petitions.

Leave granted.

2. The State of Haryana and certain public sector undertakings of the State of Haryana are the appellants before us. In these appeals, they challenge the judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana. A series of Writ Petitions were filed before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana by various Government employees and in Civil Writ Petition No. 45 of 1999 titled as "Suraj Bhan and others v. State of Haryana and others" the question, raised in the present appeals, was considered. The judgment of the High Court in that case was delivered on 21st September, 2000. This decision was followed in a series of other writ petitions. Special Leave Petitions were filed by the State of Haryana and others against the decision in Suraj Bhan's case (supra) and other similar writ petitions. Some of the Leave Petitions were dismissed at the admission stage itself on the ground of delay, but in some petitions notices were issued. That is how, these matters have come up before us. The State of Hary