A workman, who has put in 480 days of continuous service in 24 months, will become automatically a permanent employee under the employer, even if the employer has not conferred him with the permanent status or no direction is issued by the competent authority under the Tamil Nadu Industrial Establishments (Conferment of Permanent Status to Workmen) Act, the Madras High Court has held.
Constituting a division bench, Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and M Venugopal allowed a writ petition from R Lakshmi and directed the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to pay to her the family pension and other terminal benefits including gratuity, due to be paid to her deceased husband, within 8 weeks.
The bench also directed the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board to consider and dispose of the representation of the petitioner to provide compassionate appointment to her daughter Valarmathi as per rules within 4 weeks.
According to petitioner, her husband Raju worked as a contract labourer in the civil section of power house at Mettur Dam under various contractors from 1991 to 1999. Thereafter, he worked as a helper in TNEB till his demise in November, 2003. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board had not passed any order to make him as a permanent employee. Since her husband worked for more than 480 days in Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, he was entitled to be given the permanent status as per the 1981 Act, petitioner said.
The bench said a workman, who had rendered a continuous service of 480 days in a period of 24 calendar months, should be conferred with the permanent status in an establishment.
A reading of the ingredients of section 3 (1) of the 1981 Act, unerringly pointed out that it was the duty of an employer to confer permanent status on a workman, who had completed 480 days of service in 24 months, the bench added.
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