in a given year. The project jobs came to an end in 1991 and the workmen were never re-employed by the Board. Being aggrieved by the said non-employment, the workmen filed applications under the M.P. Industrial Relations Act seeking permanent employment, primarily on the ground that they have completed 240 days in a year and their discontinuation of service amounted to retrenchment without following the legal requirements. The Board denied the allegations made in the application before the Labour Court. An application was moved before the Labour Court by the workmen seeking direction to the Board to produce the muster roll for the period concerned. However, no other material was produced by the workmen to establish the fact that they had worked for 240 days continuously in a given year. Some of the workmen were also examined before the Labour Court. However, no document was produced in the form of letter of appointment, receipt indicating payment of salary, etc. After examining the entry in the muster rolls, the Labour Court came to the conclusion that the workmen had not worked for 240 days continuously in a given year, hence, they could not claim permanency nor could they term their non-employment as retrenchment. Aggrieved by the award of the Labour Court, the workmen preferred an appeal before the Industrial Court at Bhopal which took the view that since the Board has failed to produce the entire muster roll for the year ending 1990, an adverse inference was required to be drawn against the Board and solely based on the said inference, the Industrial Court accepted the case of the workmen that they had worked for 240 days continuously in a given year. Accordingly, the Industrial Court granted reinstatement to the workmen with 50% back wages. Drawing of such an adverse inference was challenged before this Court by the M.P. Electricity Board. In the light of the aforestated facts, this Court opined that the Industrial Court or the High Court could not have drawn an adverse inference for nonproduction of the muster rolls for the years 1990 to 1992, particularly in the absence of a specific plea by the claimants that they had worked during the period for which muster rolls were not produced. This Court observed that the initial burden of establishing the factum of their continuous work for 240 days in a year was on the workmen and since that burden was not discharged, the Industrial Court and the High Court had erred in ordering reinstatement solely on an adverse inference drawn erroneously.
