Judgement

NATARAJAN, J.:- 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 wa