N.V. BALASUBRAMANIAN, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioner was employed as a doffer in the first respondent/management company. According to him, he has put in a service of nearly 17 years without any blemish and he was drawing a monthly salary of Rs. 1350. 00 at the time of his dismissal from service. The first respondent company is a Spinning Mill, and in the mill, doffers used to attend the work of doffing and they are expected to work as a group, each group consisting of nearly 5 or 6 doffers. By nature of things, it is necessary that all of them should contribute to the production to achieve the desired result, and in effect, the doffing work is a collective work. The petitioner has stated that one Thirumalainambi, who was also a doffer had not done the work properly and in spite of the petitioner informing him that he should extend his full cooperation, the said Thirumalainambi never bothered to do the work. On April 28, 1987 at about 5. 30 a. m. there was a break for the third shift work. The petitioner, the said Thirumalainambi and also some other workers who were working as a group during third shift, at the time of break, were talking about the conduct of Thirumalainambi. A