The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of adhering to statutory rules for recruitment and appointment, and the limitations of invoking writ jurisdiction without establishing a legal right to the post.

S.P. Srivastava, J.

1. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Government Advocate representing respondent No. 1.

2. Perused the record.

3. The petitioner claims to have been engaged by the Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti/respondent No. 3 to perform the duties of Udghoshak (Announcer) on daily wage basis and working as such since April 17, 1989. Vide an order dated January 12, 2000, implementing the decision of the State Government, the Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti, the employer, dispensed with the services of all those employees who had been engaged on daily wage basis subsequent to December 31, 1988. The petitioner's services were also dispensed with under the aforesaid order.

4. Feeling aggrieved, the petitioner has approached this Court invoking its jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for the quashing of the aforesaid order dated January 12, 2000. He has further prayed for a direction requiring the respondents to classify him as a permanent employee.

5. Every market committee established under the M.P. Krishi Upaj Mandi Adhiniyam, 1972 is deemed to be a local authority as envisaged under Section 7(3) of the said Act. The powers and duties of a market committee as envisaged under Section 17 of the Act include the power to employ the necessary number of officers and servants for the efficient implementation of the provisions of the Act and the rules and the bye-laws made thereunder. The provisions contained in M. P. Krishi Upaj Mandi (Mandi Nidhi Lekha Tatha Rajya Vipnan Sewa Ki Gathan Ki Riti Tatha Anya Vishaya) Niyam, 1980 regulate the procedure in regard to expenditure of the Mandi Nidhi by the market committee and also regulates the recruitment and appointment of its employees.

6. As held by a Division Bench of this Court in its decision in the case of Inder Singh Borana v. Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti, passed in M. P. No. 1320/92 decided on December 1, 1992, Krishi Upaj Mandi Samiti is an instrumentality of the State.

7. It may be noticed that the State Government had issued a direction on July 6, 1999 and thereafter on December 31, 1999 requiring all the local authorities (Nagriya Nikay) to dispense with the services of its employees who had been engaged on daily wage basis subsequent to December 31, 1988, latest by January 15, 2000. It may further be noticed that previously the State Government had issued an order providing a scheme for regularisation of the employees engaged on daily wage basis and had fixed the cut off date for the purpose to be December 31, 1988. The procedure prescribed for regularisation included the procedure for obtaining the sanction and creation of the posts to accommodate daily wagers found eligible and suitable for regularisation.

8. Learned counsel for the petitioner has strenuously urged that the Mandi Samiti falls within the ambit of "industry" and the petitioner was entitled to the status of a permanent employee as contemplated under the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1961. The impugned action, according to the learned counsel for the petitioner, amounted to an unfair labour practice as envisaged under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

9. It has also been urged that the petitioner had not been paid any amount and the cheque tendered to him representing the salary, the wages for two months, was in favour of some other person having the same name as that of the petitioner but a different parentage. The contention urged is that the petitioner has been retrenched without complying with the mandatory requirements contemplated under Section 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

10. The learned Government Advocate representing the respondent- State has urged that the State Government was well within its jurisdiction to issue the direction for dispensing with the services of all those employees engaged by the Samiti on daily wage basis after the cut-off date. It has further been urged that the petitioner who had been enga