IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD WEDNESDAY, THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF JULY TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI ANIL R. DAVE AND HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE R. SUBHASH REDDY WRIT APPEAL No. 716 of 2008 (Writ Appeal under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent against the order dated 30.01.2008 in Writ Petition No.11337 of 1998 on the file of the High Court.) Between: 1. The Regional Manager, HPCL, Post Box No.5, 130/1, Sabestian Road, Secunderabad. 2. General Manager, H.P.C.L Thalamuthu Natarajan Building, 4th Floor, Gandhi Irwin Road, P.B.No. 3045, Madras - 600 003. 3. The H.P.C. Limited, 17, Jemshedji Tata Road, P.B.No.11401, Mumbai - 400 020. 4. Depot Manager, HPCL, Tadepalli, - 522 501, Guntur District. ....Appellants And 1. Mekala Venkata Nageswara Rao, S/o. Subba Rao, Tadepalli Area Motor Lorry & HPC, BPC, IOC Oil Tankers Workers Union, Tadepalli, Guntur Dist. 2. K. Emmaneyelu, S/o. K. Lakshiah HPCL Tadepalli, 3. V. Prakash, S/o. V. Prabhudas HPCL Tadepalli. 4. D.S.Kumar, S/o. D. Venkataiah, HPCL, Tadepalli. 5. S.K. Kalisha, S/o. M.D. Sharif, HPCL, Tadepalli, Guntur Dist. 6. Smt. B. Guravamma, W/o. late Kesavulu, HPCL, Tadepalli, Guntur Dist. 7. Smt. G. Ruthamma, W/o. John, HPCL, Tadepalli, Guntur Dist. 8. Smt. M. Koteswaramma, W/o. M. Deevaraju, HPCL, Tadepalli, Guntur Dist. 9. Smt. D. Malleswari, W/o. Chennaiah, HPCL, Tadepalli, Guntur Dist. 10. Central Assistant Labour Commissioner, Vijayawada, Krishna District. 11. The Central Regional Labaour Commissioner, Hyderabad. 12. Union of India, Rep. by Secretary, Ministry of Labour, New Delhi. .....Respondents Counsel for the appellant : Ms. V. Uma Devi Counsel for respondent Nos.1 to 9 : Sri P.V. Ramana Counsel for respondent Nos.10 to 12: None The Court passed the following: JUDGMENT: (per Anil R. Dave, C.J.) Being aggrieved by the order dated 30th January, 2008 passed in Writ Petition No.11337 of 1998, this appeal has been filed. Without going into the merits of the matter, we find that the order passed by the learned Single Judge would not afford any protection to the original petitioners at this stage and, therefore, this appeal has become infructuous. It has been observed in the impugned order that within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the order, the petitioners have to approach the State Advisory Board under the provisions of the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 and the State Advisory Board has been directed to entertain and dispose of the application within three months from the date of receipt of the same. The learned Advocates appearing for the original petitioners as well as the respondents agree that the said period has already been completed by efflux of time. In the circumstances, in our opinion, there is no obligation on the part of the present appellants to continue the original petitioners in service, especially when they were never employed by them, but they were employed by the contractor. The appeal is, therefore, disposed of as infructuous with no order as to costs. ANIL R. DAVE, C.J. 16th July, 2008 R.SUBHASH REDDY, J. ….REGISTRAR To 1. The Central Assistant Labour Commissioner, Vijayawada, Krishna District. 2 The Central Regional Labaour Commissioner, Hyderabad. 3. The Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Govt. of India, New Delhi. 4. Sri A. Rajasekhar Reddy, Addl. Solicitor General, High Court Buildings, Hyderabad (OPUC). 5. Two C.D. copies. ARS