N.M. JAMDAR, J.

1. The Petitioner, Airports Authority of India has filed this Writ Petition challenging the Award of the Presiding Officer, Central Government Industrial Tribunal dated 26 May 2008.

2. The Tribunal, by the impugned Award, has directed the Petitioner to treat the workers involved in the Reference as permanent employees of the Petitioner, and to pay them wages and consequential benefits at par with other permanent employees, from the date of Reference, that is 7 March 2003.

3. The Petitioner is a statutory body, constituted under the Airports Authority of India Act, 1994. The Respondent No. 1, Indian Airports Employees Union (the Union) is a trade union, which seeks to espouse the cause of the workers involved in the Reference. The Petitioner carries out its activities at various places in India in around 120 airports in the country, including the airport at Mumbai, the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. For discharging its duties, the Petitioner engages permanent employees, casual workers and contract workers. The dispute in the present petition relates to the workers employed on contract basis at the airport in Mumbai.

4. The workers involved in the Re