By these three original petitions, three unions of employees of two nationalized banks, who represent the highest paid section of employees in the Public sector, have come up with a claim for enhanced House Rent Allowance (HRA) and City Compensatory Allowance (CCA) relying upon a Notification issued by the Government of Kerala re-defining the Metropolitan areas in the Districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Kozikode for the purpose of Part IXA of the Constitution of India, in exercise of powers conferred by clause (c) of Article 243P of the Constitution of India, claiming that for the purpose of calculating HRA and CCA, that notification should be the basis, meaning thereby that population of the entire metropolitan area so defined shall be the basis for payment of HRA and CCA to employees working in any one of the branches situated in any of the places included in the metropolitan area so defined.

2. The service conditions of staff and officers of Banks in India are governed by the Sashri and Desai awards, bipartite settlements and agreements. According to the petitioners, presently, the criteria for payment of HRA is as under.

"8.House Rent Allowance

In substitu