JUDGMENT :

K.S. Jhaveri, J.

We have heard Mr. K.M. Patel, learned Senior Counsel appearing with Mr. Hamesh Naidu, learned advocate for Food Corporation of India, Mr. T.R. Mishra, Mr. Shakeel Qureshi & Mr. Bhushan Oza, learned advocates appearing for Kandla Port Workers Union, Union of India and original complainant respectively.

2. Letters Patent Appeal No. 1327 of 2006 has been filed by Food Corporation of India whereas Letters Patent Appeal No. 537 of 2007 has been filed by Union of India.

These intra court Letters Patent Appeals under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent have been filed assailing the judgment and order dated 16.01.2006 passed by the learned Single Judge in Special Civil Application No. 6891 of 1996 whereby the learned Single Judge allowed the writ petition and directed Union of India to issue appropriate order clarifying that all the 321 employees including all the employees listed in the order of the Industrial Tribunal as having been transferred to Food Corporation of India (hereinafter referred to as FCI) under Section 12A of the FCI Act, 1964 with effect from 01.01.1973.

2.1 The Kandla Port Trust Union - original petitioner (hereinafter referred to as original petitioner Union) had filed the writ petition before the learned Single Judge praying for a direction that the action of the respondents in not including the names of 306 employees in the impugned order passed by the Under Secretary to the Govt. of India, Ministry of Food, Department of Food Procurement and Distribution, New Delhi is void and inoperative. The original petitioner Union had also sought for a direction to the Govt. of India to issue appropriate order clarifying that all the 321 employees (including all employees listed in Annexure C) as having been transferred to Food Corporation of India under Section 12A of the Food Corporation Act, 1964 with effect from 01.01.1973.

3. The facts of the case, in a nutshell, as pleaded before the learned Single Judge are as follows:

3.1 The members of the original petitioner Union include those employees who were working in the Vacuvator division of the Kandla Port Trust upto 1973 and taken over by the Food Corporation of India with effect from 01.01.1973. Initially, the work of loading and unloading food grains at Kandla Port was undertaken departmentally by the Govt. of India. In 1965, the aforesaid work was transferred to Kandla Port Trust which is a body set up under the Kandla Port Trust Act, 1963. An agreement was executed between the Government of India and the Trustees of the Port of Kandla on 08.04.1965 on the question of loading and unloading of food grains at Kandla. It was stated in the said agreement that the Board of Kandla Port Trust was willing to act as an Agent of the Government for the purpose of assembly, operation and maintenance of wheat discharging machines (With Vacuvators) on behalf of the Government of India in connection with discharge of food grains, on vessels arriving at Kandla as and when required by the Government with machines and equipments provided by the Government. It was agreed that the Government of India shall, for the purposes of the aforesaid work supply to the Board 25 Vacuvators of DK-168 type and all ancillary equipments. It was further agreed that the Board on behalf of the Port Trust shall be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the machines with a view to obtaining the best possible performance. Therefore, for that purpose, the Board would provide adequate number of staff employed for the various stages of operation and of maintenance. It was also agreed that for the purpose of reconciliation of expenditure, the Board shall submit monthly statement together with account of all expenditure in such form and detail. It was further agreed that on conclusion of termination of the agreement, the Board of the Port Trust shall return all the machineries, equipments, and spare parts given to the Board by the Government or purchased by the Board on behalf of the