Judgment

CHINNAPPA REDDY, J.:- The question for consideration in this appeal is whether the Delhi Development Authority is a local authority whose employees are taken out of the purview of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, by Section 32 (iv) of that Act, which provides that nothing in the Act shall apply to employees employed by an establishment engaged in any industry carried on by or under the authority of any Department of the Central Government or State Government or a Local Authority. It appears that for about ten years prior to 1973-74 bonus was paid to the employees of the Delhi Development Authority but it was stopped thereafter on the advice of the Ministry of Law. The employees questioned the stoppage of the payment of bonus by filing Civil Writ Petn. No. 1139/78 in the Delhi High Court. The High Court allowed the writ petition and the Union of India and the Delhi Development Authority have preferred this appeal, after obtaining special leave of this Court under Art. 136 of the Constitution. The expression Local Authority is not defined in the Payment of Bonus Act. One must, therefore, turn to the General Clauses Act to ascertain the meaning of the expression. Section 3 (31)