F.I. Rebello, J.

1. Rule. Heard forthwith. The petitioner has moved this Court to impugn the communication of September 4, 2006 whereby the Central Government as the appropriate Government has rejected the reference sought for by the petitioner in the manner of his status as workman employed with respondent No. 2. It is the case of the petitioner that he was employed by respondent No. 2 as driver-cum-operator since from 1999 and since then he was in continuous service till the time of his termination. Initially, the petitioner was receiving his payments of fixed monthly amount directly from respondent No. 2. The Petitioner's case is that subsequently to deprive him of his regular benefits after few years, respondent No. 2 through camouflage arrangement engaged the petitioner through a Contractor i.e. Trust Us Security Service without the knowledge of the petitioner. It is further case of the petitioner that he does not know to read, write and/or to understand English though he signs in English language. On August 1, 2005, it is the petitioner's case that the Station In-charge respondent No. 2 asked workman not to join the duty and thereafter, he was not allowed to join the duty which results in refusal of work and ultimately resulted in his termination without complying with the requirements of law and consequently, said termination is illegal.

2. The petitioner aggrieved by the action of the respondent No. 2 raised industrial dispute through Gomantak Majdoor Sangh by letter dated. August 14, 2005 calling on Commissioner, Labour and Employment, Government of Goa to intervene in the matter of his illegal termination. The Conciliation proceedings were commenced. The proceeding ended in failure on account of according to the petitioner the adamant attitude of respondent No. 2. The Conciliation Officer forwarded its failure report to the Government.

3. Thefailure report made available to the petitioner is only in the nature of communication as to what had transpired. The real failure report which the Conciliation Officer normally forwards to the appropriate Govt. has not been made available to the petitioner or to the employer. Subsequent to the failure report, petitioner received communication dated. September 4, 2006 giving the reasons for not referring the matter to the Industrial Tribunal. The letter read as under: I am directed to refer to the failure of conciliation No. VA- 8(5)/05-06 dated February 28, 2006 from the ALC (Goa) received in this Ministry on April 13, 2006 on the above mentioned subject and to say that prima facie, this Ministry does not consider this dispute fit for adjudication for the following reasons. The Union could not produce documentary evidence in support of their contention that the workman was employed by BPCL.

4. On November 25, 2006, the Union wrote back to Secretary, Ministry of Labour pointing out that factually the reasons given that Union has not produced documentary evidence, it was incorrect as two documents have been produced which were prima facie evidence that petitioner was workman. In response to that letter by communication dated December 13, 2006, the Union was once again informed that the representation has been examined and rejected as no new facts are brought out.

5. Thepetitioner aggrieved by his rejection, preferred this petition.

6. A reply has been filed on behalf of respondent No. 2. The respondent No. 2 it is stated was appointed as operation assistance for a period of one year. The first contract was entered into on January 1,2001 for the period of one year till December 31, 2001 on a payment of a consolidated amount of Rs. 34,800/- p.a. and after expiry of the said contract, a fresh contract was entered into by respondent No. 2 with the petitioner for further period of one year from January 1, 2002 to December 31,2002 on consolidated amount of Rs. 38,400/-p.a. On the expiry of contracts, the terms was extended for the period of 3 months till March 2003. It is set