NARENDRAKUMAR RAJENDRA SINGH ATMA RAM RAMESH DUTT CHANDRAJIT KAUR N D M C WORKSHOP EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION KSHATRAPAL SHARMA Vs. DHARAMDUTT:LT GOVERNOR DELHI ADMINISTRATION:ADMINISTRATOR N D M C:LT GOVERNOR DELHI ADMINISTRATION:LT GOVERNOR DELHI ADMINISTRATION:LT GOVERNOR DELHI ADMINISTRATION:LT GOVERNOR A

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these cases are an upshot of the case R. D. Gupta v. Lt.-Governor, Delhi Administration. It is not necessary for us to give the background and history of the constitution of the two main civic bodies namely, New Delhi Municipal Committee (in short 'ndmc') and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (in short 'mcd') , in the Union Territory of Del hi as the same has already been mentioned in detail in the above R. D. Gupta case. We would thus mention only such details which are relevant and necessary for the purpose of deciding the above cases. All the above cases relate to the employees of the NDMC who are claiming the benefit of the report of Shiv Shankar Committee (in short 'ssc') in respect of the grant of pay-scales as allowed to other employees of NDMC in R. D. Gupta case.

(2.) The government accepted the report of the Third Pay Commission and granted pay-scales as recommended to the employees of NDMC as well as to the MCD. The technical staff of the Delhi Electricity Supplyundertaking (in short 'desu') claimed higher scales of pay as they were not satisfied with the pay-scales recommended by the Third Pay Commission. The government therefore constituted Shiv Shankar a Committee to go into the question of revision of pay-scales of the technical staff of DESU. The SSC submitted its report in 1973 according to which higher pay-scales were allowed to the technical staff of DESU. The non-technical/ministerial staff of DESU who were not covered by the report of the SSC demanded that they should also be granted pay-scales as recommended by the SSC. The DESU considered the demand of the ministerial staff at its meeting held in May 1973 and decided to revise the pay-scales of the non-technical staff also working in DESU.

(3.) Since the technical as well as the ministerial staff working in the DESU were granted the pay-scales recommended by SSC, the NDMC also by its resolution No. 154 dated 19/10/1973 allowed the benefits of pay-scales as recommended by SSC to its staff working in the electricity wing. In view of the fact that the benefit of the SSC pay-scales was granted by the NDMC to the ministerial staff working in the electricity wing only, the employees working in the general wing of the NDMC also raised a demand for granting them also the benefit of the pay- scales recommended by SSC. Many orders were passed from time to time and writ petitions were also filed by the concerned parties, but we do not think it necessary to give the details as the same have been narrated in R. D. Gupta case and we come to the resolution of the NDMC dated 27/06/1978 constituting the electricity wing with effect from 1/05/1978 or such subsequent date as may be fixed composed of 28 posts of pump drivers, two posts of welders, three posts of carpenters and one post of pump mechanic and 496 posts of ministerial staff and to give all of them scales of pay as per SS Committee Report. Three petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution viz. C. W. Nos. 1231, 557 and 280 of 1978 were filed in the Delhi High court. We are only concerned with the grievance of the ministerial staff who were claiming to be treated on a par with the ministerial staff of the electricity wing in the matter of pay and allowances. The ministerial staff in the general wing having not received the full relief in the High court filed C. A. No. 2969 of 1973 before this court. It was claimed in the said appeal that instead of restricting the payment of SS Committee pay-scales to the 496 ex-cadre posts in the electricity wing and directing the NDMC to fill up those posts on the basis of seniority-cum-option, the High court should have directed the NDMC to give the SS Committee pay-scales to all the members of the ministerial staff. In R. D. Gupta case this court decided many appeals by a common order, but we are only concerned with the C. A. No. 2969 of 1983 which relates to the ministerial staff in the general wing of the NDMC. It was contended by the appellants in the said appeal that the electricity wing of the NDMC was not a distinct and independent unit entitled to have itsown scales of pay and secondly the ministerial staff of the NDMC belonged to a unified cadre and the staff members were liable to transfer a from one branch of the NDMC to another and as such the NDMC cannot create a cadre within a cadre and fix different scales of pay for those in the carved out cadre. It was also urged that the nature of the duties performed by the ministerial staff in all the three wings of the NDMC is more or less similar, if not identical, and hence the well-established rule of equal pay for equal work should govern the staff members. This court in R. D. Gupta case held that the grievance of the ministerial staff of the general wing was well founded. The ministerial staff in the NDMC constituted a unified cadre. The recruitment policy for the selection of the ministerial staff is a common one and the recruitment is also done by a common agency. They are governed by a common seniority list. The ministerial posts in three wings of the NDMC, viz. , the general wing, the electricity wing and the waterworks wing are interchangeable posts and the postings are made from the common pool according to administrative convenience and exigencies of service and not on the basis of any distinct policy or special qualifications. It was held that it would be futile to say that merely because a member of the ministerial staff had been given a posting in the electricity wing, either due to force of circumstances or due to voluntary preferment, he stands on a better or higher footing or in a more advantageous position than his counterparts in the general wing. It was thus held that all S. of the ministerial staff should be treated alike and all of them were entitled to the same scales of pay for the work of equal nature done by them.