( 1 ) THE petitioner, Sm. Anima Munshi was a telephone operator in the telephone system which operates in the city of Calcutta. Prior to the Government taking over the running of telephones in the city, it was being run by the Bengal Telephone Corporation Limited, a public limited company. In 1941, a company named Government Telephones Board Limited was formed by the Government of India to acquire the share capital of telephone companies operating all over India, including the Bengal Telephone Corporation Limited (hereinafter referred to as the Corporation) which operated in Calcutta. At first, the Government acquired a majority of the shares but allowed the company to function as before. Sometime in March 1943, the Government of India passed orders, regarding the future organisation of the system of telephones all over India. We are concerned only with what happened in Calcutta. Upon the expiry of the license of the Corporation on 1-4-1943, it was to be taken over by Government and placed under the administrative control of the Director General of Posts and Telegraphs. The staff of the company was to be taken over on the existing terms and conditions of service with the