P. Sam Koshy, J.

1. This bunch of Writ Petitions, except for Writ Petition (S) No. 2279 of 2016, Writ Petition (S) No. 2264 of 2016, Writ Petition (S) No. 2451 of 2016 and Writ Petitions (S) No. 4816 of 2016, has been placed before the Division Bench by the learned Single Bench vide its order dated 5.10.2015 passed in Writ Petition (S) No. 4903 of 2014 and other analogous petitions and have been referred to be considered and decided by a larger Bench in view of the matter assuming general importance.

2. The reason to send these matters to the Division Bench also was on account of the fact that the different Single Benches of this High Court have taken a view that once the order of retrenchment/discontinuance of employment is set aside by the Labour Court and the workman is reinstated in employment it has to be presumed that he stood in continuous employment. In other words, the period during which the workman was out of employment by virtue of an illegal termination order would also have to be counted for the purpose of calculating the total length of service. This view