( 1 ) IT is a matter of sorrow that this petition, filed in the year 1981, has been pending for such a long time, particularly, when the petitioner was out of job and, in our opinion, without any fault on his part, as no opportunity was given to him to defend his case by the employer-Food Corporation of India (for short, the FCI ).

( 2 ) THE petitioner joined the service of FCI in the year 1973. From the record, it transpires that he was given the responsible job of finance and he was registered as a financial expert for assignments in foreign countries in July, 1975. Not only that, his name was sponsored and he got the job as financial expert in the Republic of Zambia. The Government of Zambia officially requested the Managing Director of the respondent FCI and, as per the petitioner s say, the respondent agreed to lend the services of the petitioner vide letter dated 25. 1. 1977. For some reasons he came back in 1977 and on a request being made he was allowed to join on his permanent post in the respondent Corporation. The petitioner has placed on record the letter dated 5. 12. 1977 as Annexure P3. The letter clearly states as under :

"shri Khosla, will be treated