Saying that a single person cannot decide on the issue, the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the Tamil Nadu government to reinstate employees who had been dismissed for going on a strike.

A two-judge bench comprising Justice M B Shah and Justice Dr A R Lakshmanan told the state government that the workers would resume duty from Friday and there will be no break in service.

The bench said the employees will be reinstated subject to their giving 'unconditional apologies' as well as an undertaking not to go on strike in future.

The Tamil Nadu government's counsel senior advocate K K Venugopal gave an undertaking to the court about taking back all the 176,000-odd employees dismissed for going on a strike, except around 2,200 against whom FIRs have been lodged for allegedly indulging in violence during the agitation.

The state government reserved its right to proceed against those government servants who had indulged in violence and insisted that others join the strike.

The bench will pass a detailed order on a bunch of petitions challenging the Madras high court order, which did not give any relief to the employees, next Thursday.

Earlier on Monday, it had declared the strike as illegal but suggested that the state government reinstate the dismissed staff, provided they furnish an unconditional apology and an undertaking not to go on strike again.

The court had asked the state government to get back on the issue on Thursday.

The state government pleaded that the PIL on the issue not be considered, as the employees themselves had not approached the court for relief.

More reports from Tamil Nadu