THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NOS.17709 AND 17751 OF 2000 DATED 2ND SEPTEMBER, 2011 BETWEEN The Executive Engineer, P.W.D. (R&B) Khammam, And others. …Petitioners And The Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court, Warangal, Rep. by its Chairman and Presiding Officer and others. …Respondents THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NOS.17709 AND 17751 OF 2000 COMMON ORDER: The officers of the Roads and Buildings Department of the State filed these writ petitions aggrieved by the Awards dated 24.02.2000 passed by the Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court, Warangal, in I.D.Nos.221 and 222 of 1995. By the said Awards, the oral termination of the workmen, arrayed as the second respondent in each of these writ petitions, was set aside and the petitioners herein were directed to reinstate them in service as ‘workers’ on NMR basis as ‘fresh recruits’. This Court granted interim stay of all further proceedings pursuant to the Awards under challenge subject to compliance with Section 17-B of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. It is however stated by the learned Assistant Government Pleader for Road and Buildings that the respondent workmen were reinstated in service and are presently working. The challenge to the Awards passed by the Labour Court is mainly on the ground that the respondent workmen were not employees of the State and as there was no privity of contract of employment, they would not come within the purview of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. It is however to be noticed that the respondent workmen produced attendance certificates issued by the officers of the R&B Department of the State which remained unrebutted and further, in spite of a direction by the Court to produce the muster rolls, the petitioners herein failed to do so. Consequently, the Labour Court was justified in drawing an adverse inference against them. It was on the basis of this evidence that the Labour Court came to the conclusion that the termination of the respondent workmen from service was in violation of the prescribed procedure and accordingly granted relief by directing their reinstatement in service as fresh recruits on NMR basis. The Awards under challenge do not warrant interference on facts as the petitioners, by their own conduct, contributed to the adverse finding rightly recorded by the Court below. The Writ Petitions are devoid of merit and are accordingly dismissed. No order as to costs. ____________________ SANJAY KUMAR, J. 2ND SEPTEMBER, 2011. VGSR/PGS