R D GUPTA Vs. LT GOVERNOR DELHI ADMN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The genesis for these appeals by special leave, the special leave petition and the petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution is the grant of pay scales at the rates recommended by the Shiv Shankar Committee for the employees of the Delhi Electricity Supply Undertaking to only a section of the ministerial staff of the New Delhi Municipal Committee who happened to be working in the electricity wing of the said Committee at the relevant time. There is a good deal of factual material and historical background to be covered for a full and proper appreciation of the contentions of the appellants and the petitioners on the one hand and the respondents on the other in these appeals and petitions. We will, therefore, concern ourselves with that exercise before taking up the contentions of the parties.

(2.) In the Union Territory of Delhi there are two main civic bodies viz. the New Delhi Municipal Committee (for short the NDMC) and the Delhi Municipal Corporation (for short the MCD). The NDMC comprises of New Delhi as it existed prior to 1947 and was constituted under the Punjab Municipal Act, 1913 (1911). The NDMC discharges all civic functions including supply of water and electricity in the areas falling within its jurisdiction. In 1957 the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act came to be enacted and in pursuance thereof, the Delhi Municipal Corporation was constituted amalgamating within itself a few other smaller civic bodies which existed independent of the NDMC and the resultant position was that the rest of the areas fell within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

(3.) The NDMC, forming a compact unit, had divided its civic work into various departments. Besides engaging technical staff, the NDMC engaged non-technical staff such as municipal staff, clerks etc. for working in the various departments including the electricity and water-supply departments. In so far as the non-technical staff are concerned, they constitute one unified cadre and are liable to transfer from one department to another. They are governed by a common channel of seniority, in respect of each class of employees with common seniority list.