M.SATHYANARAYANAN,J. - (1.)By consent, the writ petition itself is taken up for final disposal.
(2.)The deponent of the affidavit, who is the Director in the petitioner-Company, would state that it is engaged in the manufacture of pumps for domestic and agricultural purposes and having it's factory at No.362/3, Somayampalayam, Thadagam Road, Coimbatore. It is the claim of the petitioner-management that the respondents 3 to 25 were undertaking job works to the petitioner on piece rate basis and consequently, there was no employer-employee relationship between the petitioner-management and the private respondents 3 to 25; however, the private respondents had invoked the jurisdiction of the first respondent by filing individual Claim Application Nos.476 dated 015 seeking conferment of permanent status to them, and the petitioner management has filed individual counter statement contending that the private respondents 3 to 25 were individual contractors carrying out the contract work at piece rate basis, as per the work order assigned to them, and as such, they are not employees under them.
(3.)The grievance expressed by the petitioner-management, is that instead of deciding the preliminary issue as to whether the respondents 3 to 25 were individual contract workers and whether there was employer-employee relationship, the first respondent is taking urgent steps to decide the issue as to whether the respondents 3 to 25 had completed 480 days of service for the purpose of declaring them as permanent workmen and hence, it came forward to file this writ petition.