JUDGMENT

Anil R. Dave, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. At the request of the learned Counsel, the appeal was finally heard.

3. Being aggrieved by Judgment and Order dated 26th November, 2007 passed in Writ Petition No. 41579/2002 by the High Court of Madras, this appeal has been filed by Union of India and its officers, who were respondents in the writ petition.

4. The present respondents were petitioners in the petition before the High Court of Madras and, therefore, for the sake of convenience, they have been described as petitioners whereas the appellants before this Court were respondents in the High Court and, therefore, they have been described as respondents herein below.

5. The facts giving rise to the present litigation in a nut-shell is as under:

6. The petitioners were working on part time basis in Civilian Bandsmen Team at Air Force Station, Tambaram. They were paid remuneration on daily wages basis and certain amount was paid to them per month as an incentive in addition to certain allowances for haircut, uniform washing etc. and they were also provided lunch or breakfast on certain days. Moreover, whenever they were asked to play music at any function organised by civilians, 20% of