The main legal point established in the judgment is that the protection granted to the employees under Section 11 of the Act, 1994 mandated that the conditions of the scale of pay in the MoU and the settlement being disadvantageous to the employees cannot override the statutory provision.

JUDGMENT :

Biswanath Rath, J.

1. Petitioner the NTPC power workers Union along with another have filed the writ petition seeking direction for quashing of Clauses 2.1, 2.2 & 2.3 of Annexure-12 relating to pay scale and placement of workmen/employees in the N.T.P.C. pay scale after declaring the aforesaid clauses as illegal and further to quash the orders under Annexure-14 & 15 so far those relate to doing away with earlier conditions of services touching the working hours, holidays and pensionary benefits of the employees of T.T.P.S. as existed under Annexures-2, 3 & 1 respectively, further issuing a mandamus directing the opposite party Nos.1 & 2 to allow the employees / workmen of T.T.P.S. with the benefits of the revised scale of pay which came into force on 1.4.1995 as appearing vide Annexures-5 & 6. Further directing the opposite party Nos. 1 & 2 to continue with the advantageous service condition of the employees/workmen of the Talcher Thermal Power Station herein after called as T.T.P.S relating to pension, working hours and holidays as delineated under Annexures-1, 2 & 3 and also quashing the MOU under Annexure-17 and the settlement under Annexure-18 after declaring those as illegal.

2. The facts as narrated in the writ petition and submitted during course of argument by the petitioners are that the Talcher Thermal Power Station hereinafter called and referred as T.T.P.S. was earlier an unity of erstwhile Orissa State Electricity Board hereinafter called as OSEB. All its employees/Workmen were the employees of OSEB and were also governed by the Service Conditions maintained by the OSEB establishment. In the meantime, the T.T.P.S. got vested with National Thermal Power Corporation hereinafter referred to as N.T.P.C on 3.06.1995. The employees of the T.T.P.S. were governed by the Orissa Electricity Board Employees Pension (including old age and family pension) Regulation, 1992 in short 1992 Pension regulation. The working hours of these employees were also prescribed by the Office Order No.15141 dated 10.09.1974 (Annexure-2). Similarly, the holidays due and admissible till 2.6.1995 were laid down by Office Order dated 9.12.1994 as appearing under Annexure-3.

3. While the matter stood thus, the Government notified the Talcher Thermal Power Station (Acquisition & Transfer) Act, 1994 in the Orissa Gazette Extra Ordinary on 10.07.1995 and vide notification dated 1.06.1995 as per the provisions of the Act namely Section 3, T.T.P.S. stood transfer and vested with the State Government and similarly as per the Section 5 (1) read with Department of Energy Notification dated 1.06.1995 T.T.P.S. got vested with N.T.P.C, the opposite party No.1 with effect from 3.06.1995. The petitioners further claimed that the OSEB got abolished on 31.03.1996 and was replaced by the GRIDCO on 1.04.1996 on coming into force of Orissa Electricity Reforms Act, 1995 and thus contended that had there been no vesting with the opposite party No.1, the employees of the T.T.P.S. would have continued as OSEB employees and later on they would have become employees of GRIDCO.

4. In the meantime, by the Office order dated 10.03.1998 issued by the GRIDCO, wage structure / pay scale of the GRIDCO employees, who were the regular employees of the erstwhile OSEB, got revised on 1.04.1995. By office order dated 21.04.1998, the GRIDCO made it clear that the pay revision benefits are also extended to the T.T.P.S. employees of the erstwhile OSEB who were on its role as on 1.04.1995.

5. It is next contended by the petitioners that while the position stood thus during July, 1998, the petitioners came to know from variety of sources that the opposite parties have managed to reach a memorandum of understanding with NTPS Men’s Congress Union relating to change of service conditions of