ORDER :

1. By the present petition, the petitioner is praying for the following reliefs:-

“(A) Your Lordships may be pleased to pass a writ of mandamus and/or certiorari or a writ in the nature of mandamus and/or certiorari, or any other appropriate writ, order or direction be issued for quashing and setting aside the order dated 26.9.2007 passed by the Labour Court, Jamnagar in Ref (LCJ) No. 73 of 1994 by which the Labour Court has allowed the aforesaid Reference filed by the respondent in the interest of justice;

(B) Pending admission, hearing and final disposal of this petition, the order dated 26.9.2007 passed by Labour Court, Jamnagar in Ref (LCJ) No. 73 of 1994 may kindly be stayed the operation, implementation or execution of the above award the interest of justice and equity;

(C) Ex-parte ad interim relief in terms of prayer(B) above may kindly be granted; and

(D) Grant such other and further relief(s) or orders as may are deemed fit in the interest of justice and equity.”

2. The present group of petitions arise out of awards dated 26.09.2007 passed by the Labour Court, Jamnagar in Reference (LCJ) Nos. 69 to 73 of 1994. Hence, for the sake of convenience, facts are taken from Special Civil Application No. 5731 of 2008.

3. The facts giving rise to the present petitions are that the petitioner company, engaged in the manufacture of cement, had engaged the respondent workmen since around 1985 as Mill Attendants, ESP Operators and Welders. Disputes arose regarding regularization of such workmen, pursuant to which, a Memorandum of Settlement dated 04.05.1987 was entered into between the petitioner company and the recognized union. That two lists came to be prepared and the names of the respondent workmen herein were included in List No.1 for absorption as permanent employees. Thereafter, by letters dated 06.05.1987 and 19.08.1987, the union requested that the said settlement be kept in abeyance and the dispute be referred to arbitration. That subsequently, on 16.05.1988, an arbitration award came to be passed whereby the names of the respondent workmen came to be excluded from the list of contract labourers to be absorbed by the petitioner. That being aggrieved, the respondent workmen challenged the said action as illegal, seeking quashing of the said award and reinstatement with continuity of service and consequential benefits, and initially approached this Court by filing Special Civil Application No.8345 of 1988, which came to be disposed of on 30.07.1991 permitting them to raise an industrial dispute. That thereafter, the appropriate authority referred the disputes for adjudication on 09.02.1994, culminating in Reference (LCJ) Nos.69 to 73 of 1994 before the Labour Court, Jamnagar. Both parties led oral and documentary evidence before the Labour Court. The Labour Court, after considering the pleadings and evidence on record, by separate awards dated 26.09.2007 allowed the references and directed reinstatement of the respondent workmen on their original posts with continuity of service and 10% back wages along with costs. That being aggrieved by the said awards, the petitioner company has preferred the present petitions, and the respondent workmen have also filed separate petitions challenging the denial of full back wages.

4. Mr. Kunal Nanavati, learned counsel for the petitioner submit that the impugned award dated 26.09.2007 passed by the Labour Court, Jamnagar is illegal, unjust, perverse, and contrary to the evidence on record and settled principles of law, having been passed without proper appreciation of facts and in violation of principles of natural justice. Learned counsel submits that the reference itself was improperly worded as it presupposed the existence of an employer–employee relationship and confined the adjudication only to reinstatement and back wages, without addressing the foundational dispute between the parties. He submits that no employer–employee relationship ever existed between the petitioner and the