Abolition of contract labour in a particular establishment by publication of a notification under Section 10 (1) of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, confers a right on the workmen concerned to be absorbed in the regular establishment.

( 1 ) THE writ petitioners claim to have been appointed by the respondent No. 6, M/s. Chanda Vulcanisers Pvt. , Ltd. , over different periods of time, as Vulcanisers for maintenance and repair of conveyer belts at the coal berth of the Haldia Dock Complex, Calcutta Port Trust. According to the petitioners, they have been performing such duties for about the last 12 to 15 years without break.

( 2 ) APPEARING in support of the writ petition, Mr. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya firstly urged that the duties being performed by the petitioners were of a continuous and perennial nature which entailed employment of regular employees, but to avoid employing the petitioners on a regular basis, the Calcutta Port Trust employed the petitioners through the respondent No. 6.

( 3 ) MR. Bahattacharya submitted that, in fact, having regard to the nature of the work which the petitioners were required to perform, they had to work in three shifts, which clearly indicate that the said work was of a continuous and perennial nature and without the work being performed by the petitioners the work in the port would come to a standstill. Mr. Bhattacharya submitted that although the writ petitioners were engaged to perform their duties through a contractor, the Calcutta Port Trust is their principal employer and though they have been working continuously they have been deprived of the benefit of a regular scale of pay and other service benefits which were being given to other regular employees of the establishment.

( 4 ) MR. Bhattacharya urged that because of the long and continuous service rendered by the petitioners and in view of the various judicial pronouncements in this regard, the petitioners had acquired a semblance of a right to have their services regularised.

( 5 ) MR. Bhattacharya submitted that pursuant to a bipartite settlement the Calcutta Port Trust had absorbed in the regular establishment some other employees, who had also been employed by a contractor M/s. C. B. Constructions in the Haldia Dock Complex for maintenance of the gardens and conservancy work. Mr. Bhattacharya submitted that being similarly placed the petitioners had also made several representations to the respondents for regularisation of their services, but the same had not been favourably considered by the respondents.

( 6 ) MR. Bhattacharya urged that the double standards being sought to be adopted in respect of those whose services had been regularised and the petitioners amounted to violation of Articles 14 and 16 and even Article 21 of the Constitution.

( 7 ) IN support of his submissions, Mr. Bhattacharya firstly referred to the decision of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Catering Cleaners of Southern Railway v. Union of India (1987-I-LLJ-345) wherein the practice of employing labour through contractors for performing work of permanent nature was deprecated and was referred to as an archaic system. Inasmuch as, the work of cleaning catering establishments and pantry cars was held to be necessary and incidental to the industry or business of the Southern Railway, which satisfied the requirements of the provisions of Section 10 (2) of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, and it was also felt that sufficient number of whole time workmen were required to do such work, the Hon'ble Supreme Court directed the appropriate Government to consult the Central Board or the State Board, as the case might be, for arriving at a decision to abolish the contract labour system under which the cleaners in the catering establishments and pantry cars were employed in the Southern Railway and to regularise their services. The administration of the Southern Railways was restrained from employing contract labour until the decision of the Central Government under Section 10. A further direction was given to the effect that the work of cleaning catering establishments and pantry cars would have to be done departmentally by employing these wor