M. Sathyanarayanan, J.

The appellants are the writ petitioners and aggrieved by the dismissal of the writ petition, had preferred this appeal.

2. The facts which are necessary for the disposal of this writ appeal are as follows:-

The second appellants herein joined the services of Indian Oxygen Limited (in short IOL) as Typist on 011. 1965. IOL was a Public Limited Company with its head office at Calcutta and it was manufacturing Industrial Compressed Oxygen, Medical Oxygen, Dissolved Acetylene, Anaesthesia gas, Liquid Oxygen, Argon Gas, Hydrogen Gas and various other high speciality gases. IOL besides manufacturing various kinds of Industrial and medical gases, was also manufacturing Electrodes, Welding Equipments, Medical apparatus like Boyles and other medical accessories.

3. In the year 1995, the name of IOL was changed to B.O.C India Limited (Second Respondent). The second appellants was posted to work at Trichy as Clerk-cum-Typist in the Sales Office of the second respondent. On 11. 1978, the second appellants was promoted as Stenographer Grade II and posted to Accounts Department at Chennai. On 07.01.1988, he was promoted as Stenographer Grade I and posted to Health Care Products Division. The Welding Division of the second appellants was sold to ESAB India Limited on 21.05.1991 and some employees were transferred on account of the said sale.

4. The first appellants Union objected to the transfer of some employees as they did not want to serve under the new employer on the ground that they were not working in any separate undertaking, but in the Office/Establishment situated at Chennai which was not a separate undertaking. The first appellants Union also filed a suit in C.S.No.741 of 1991 on the file of this Court and obtained an order of ad-interim injunction in O.A.No.483 of 1991 against transfer of employees. The said interim order was also made absolute on 210. 1991. Consequently, the second respondent continued to engage their services. Even though, the manufacturing of Medical Equipments existed in the form of a separate factory at Calcutta, it ceased to exist after 1991 and the second respondent company called the business of handling medical equipments etc., as "MEDISHIELD". According to the appellants herein, there was no separate undertaking called medical division run by the second respondent company.

5. It is further contended by the appellants/writ petitioners that the employees are transferred from one post to other anywhere in the establishment and there is a common seniority list maintained for all the sections and hence, OHMEDA is not an independent division in the nature of an undertaking and the employees posted at a particular time in that division do not belong to that division.

.6. The order of appointment pertaining to the second appellants does not contain the name of a particular department and thereby his service could be utilized in all the departments of the second respondent. The second appellants is also an active member of IOL Employees Union and is holding the post of Joint Secretary and therefore, he is the protected workmen under the ID Act.

7. The appellants/ writ petitioners further averred in their affidavit that All of a sudden, the second appellants has published a letter dated 30.9.1998 in the Companys Notice Board on 10. 1998 stating that OHMEDA Division has been sold to one DATEX OHMEDA INDIA PVT LTD., - third respondent and that simultaneously, the staff who are working in the said division are transferred to the third respondent. The second appellants neither sought the consent of the affected employees nor hold any discussion with the first appellants Union before transferring their services to the third respondent and the decision of the second appellants was an unilateral one and it has been exercised in an arbitrary manner affecting the rights and privileges enjoyed by the employees. The appellants/writ petitioners further contended that the second appe