http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 4  

CASE NO.: Appeal (civil)  864 of 2007

PETITIONER: NEW DELHI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

RESPONDENT: P.P. GARG & ANR.

DATE OF JUDGMENT: 20/02/2007

BENCH: Dr.AR. Lakshmanan & Altamas Kabir

JUDGMENT: J U D G M E N T (Arising out of SLP (c) No.15824/2005)

ALTAMAS KABIR, J.

       Leave granted.         The New Delhi Municipal Committee was constituted  under the Punjab Municipal  Act, 1911.  It was later on  renamed and reconstituted as the New Delhi  Municipal  Council by virtue of the New Delhi Municipal Council   Ordinance notified on 25th May, 1994, which was later on   replaced by the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994 with  effect from  5th July 1994.  The work force of the New Delhi  Municipal Council (hereinafter referred to as the ’NDMC’ ) is  divided between the Civil  Engineering Department  and the  Electrical Wing.  According to the NDMC,  a Hot Mix Plant   forms part of the  Civil Engineering Wing  of NDMC and in  1974 the post of Assistant Engineer (E & M) was created in the  Hot Mix Plant.  The role of the Assistant Engineer ( E & M) was  confined to looking after the electrical and mechanical circuits  of  vehicles owned by the NDMC whereas  Electrical Engineers  working  in the electricity wing were looking after  the supply  and distribution of  electricity in the  NDMC area.  According  to the NDMC,  not only were the two posts  different  in terms   of nature of duty and qualification, but they also belong to   different departments and enjoy different pay-scales.         The respondents in this appeal had been recruited as  Mechanic  (Auto) in the Auto Workshop of NDMC   which is a  part and parcel of the electricity establishment and were  enjoying pay-scales as per the recommendations of the Shiv  Shankar Committee.  Subsequently, they were appointed to  the post of Assistant Engineer (E & M), which according to the  NDMC formed part of the Civil Engineering Wing having their   independent seniority list, recruitment rules and pay-scales  fixed in accordance with the recommendations  made by the  Pay Commission.    Consequent upon their promotion to the  post  of Assistant Engineer ( E & M), the pay of the  respondents was also refixed from the Shiv Shankar  Committed pay-scale to the pay-scale  recommended by the  Pay Commission.         On  27th October, 1997,  long after  promotion to the post  of Assistant Engineer ( E & M), the respondents filed Writ   Petition No. 4805/1997 in the Delhi High Court inter alia  for  issuance of an appropriate writ to  direct the NDMC to fix the  pay of the  respondents in the Shiv Shankar Committee pay- scale for their promotional post of Assistant Engineer ( E & M)  with effect from the date of their respective promotions.  By his

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 4  

judgment dated 21st August, 2003, the Single Judge of the  Delhi High Court allowed the writ  petition    upon holding that  since the auto workshop  of  the NDMC had been held by this  Court to be part  and parcel of the  electricity  establishment,  the writ petitioners  were entitled to receive the  Shiv Shankar  Committee pay-scale.  An appeal, being L.P.A.No.34/2004,  preferred by the appellant herein was dismissed by the  Division Bench of the High Court by a very brief order upon  holding that the contention  of the appellant that on promotion   the respondents  were transferred to the Civil Wing could not  be accepted as  even after promotion they were working in the  Auto Workshop itself, which forms part of the Electricity Wing.   Mr. Rakesh Khanna, learned senior counsel appearing  for the NDMC, repeated the stand taken on behalf of  NDMC  before the Delhi  High Court.  He admitted that the writ  petitioners-respondents herein, had been appointed in the  initial stage in the Auto Workshop of NDMC, which admittedly  formed part of the Electrical Wing.  The salaries of  the writ  petitioners were, therefore, fixed in the pay-scales as  recommended by the Shiv Shankar Committee which  had   been  accepted by the NDMC.  Subsequently, however with the  creation of the post of Assistant Engineer (E & M)  in the Hot  Mix Plant, the writ petitioners-respondents consciously  accepted promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer (E & M)  which was created in the year 1974 and  formed part of the   Civil Engineering Wing which had different sets of pay-scales  fixed on the basis of the recommendations of the Pay  Commission. After having enjoyed the  said scale for about 10  years, the writ petitioners-respondents  made a claim for  fixation of their pay-scale according to the recommendations of  the Shiv Shankar Committee pay-scale purportedly on the  ground that since  after promotion  they were continued to be   stationed in the Auto Workshop, which formed part of the  Electrical Wing, they were entitled to the benefit of the Shiv  Shankar Committee pay-scale.         Mr.Khanna urged that both the Single Judge,   as  also  the Division Bench of the  Delhi High Court, had completely   disregarded the fact that the post of Assistant Engineer ( E &  M) had been created in the Hot Mix Plant which was part of  the Civil Wing, and notwithstanding the posting of the writ  petitioners-respondents in the Auto Workshop, they were part  and parcel of   the Civil Wing.   Mr. Khanna submitted that the  Delhi High  Court had proceeded  on  the  erroneous  assumption that since the writ petitioners-respondents had  been posted in the Auto Workshop even after their promotion  to the post of Assistant Engineer ( E & M), they must be   held  to be  part of the Electrical Wing of the NDMC.  Mr. Khanna  urged that  the said  basic error in  understanding the manner  in which the writ petitioners-respondents had been promoted  and thereafter posted in the Auto Workshop Department,  has   resulted in a judgment which is liable  to be set aside.           In conclusion, Mr. Khanna referred to the judgment of  this Court in the case of R.D. Gupta vs. Lt.Governor , Delhi  Admn. & Ors., reported in (1987) 4 SCC 505, wherein it was   held that the Civil Engineering Department was separate and   self-contained and that the employees of the said department  were not entitled to the benefit of the Shiv Shankar Committee  pay-scale.         On behalf of the writ petitioners-respondents, it was  urged that the writ-petitioners-respondents, who had all along  been working in the Auto Workshop Department of the NDMC,  had been retained in the Auto Workshop after promotion to  the post of Assistant Engineer ( E & M).  It was denied that the  said promotional   post was part of the Hot Mix Plant or that  the same  formed part of the Civil Wing.  On the other hand, it

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 4  

was the  definite contention of the writ petitioners-respondents  that having  been recruited  in the Auto Workshop, which  admittedly was part of the Electrical Wing of the NDMC, they  had been retained in the Auto Workshop even after their  promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer (E & M) and they  continued to belong to the Electrical Wing and were  thus  entitled to the Shiv Shankar Committee pay-scale.         It was urged that the decision in R.D. Gupta’s case  (supra) referred to and relied upon     by Mr. Rakesh Khanna  had no application to the facts of the present case since the  writ petitioners  claimed to be a part of the  Electrical Wing,  whereas in R.D. Gupta’s case  it was the Assistant Engineers  (Civil) who had raised grievance  before this Court that they  were   at par with Electrical Engineers.  Appearing for the  respondents, Mrs. Inderjeet Swaroop submitted that the said   decision had been rendered on a totally  different set of facts  and had been rightly held by the learned Single Judge not to  be of any help   to the NDMC.         From the aforesaid submissions it will be evident that the  only  question  for decision in this appeal is whether the writ  petitioners-respondents  on their promotion to the post of  Assistant Engineer  (E & M)  were transferred to the Civil Wing  from the   Electrical Wing to which  they had been originally   recruited.  The question as to whether the writ petitioners- respondents would be entitled to the Shiv Shankar Committee  pay-scale, which is applicable to the Electrical Wing only, will  depend on the answer of the said question.         There is no difficulty with regard to the initial  recruitment of the writ  petitioners-respondents in the  Electrical Wing since  the Auto Workshop was admittedly a  part  of the of the Electrical Wing.  The difficulty arose with the  promotion of the writ petitioners to the post of Assistant  Engineer (E &M), which according  to the appellant were posts  which  were created  in the Civil Department   in the Hot Mix  Plant.  It has been contended on behalf of the  NDMC that the  Hot Mix Plant was a part  of the  Civil Department  and  the  writ petitioners-respondents  had consciously accepted  promotion to the  said posts which entailed a transfer of their  services from the Electrical Wing to the Civil Wing of the  NDMC, carrying with it all its consequences.          On behalf of the appellant-NDMC an attempt has been  made to show that the work performed by the writ petitioners- respondents were confined to looking after the electrical and  mechanical circuits of vehicles     owned by the NDMC and  their nature of work  could by no stretch of imagination be  compared to the work performed by  the electrical  engineers  who were looking after the supply and distribution  of  electricity in the NDMC area.   

       Unfortunately,  except for a bald statement that the post  of  Assistant Engineer (E & M) had been created in the Hot Mix  Plant, which was a part of the Civil Wing of NDMC, there is no  other corroborating  evidence to support the said statement.   Nothing has been shown  on behalf of  NDMC to establish the  stand taken on its behalf  that the  posts in question had, in  fact,  been created in the  Hot Mix Plant or  that the same   formed  part of the Civil Wing.  In the said circumstances, the  Single Judge of the Delhi High Court was justified in arriving  at the conclusion that since the writ-petitioners, even after  their promotion to the post of Assistant Engineer( E & M),  had  been posted in the Auto Workshop, which forms a part of the  Electrical Wing of the NDMC, they were entitled to the Shiv  Shankar Committee pay-scale.  The Division Bench while  considering the  appeal also accepted the said position and  on

http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 4  

the same reasoning categorically rejected the contention raised  on behalf of  NDMC that the writ petitioners on promotion had  been transferred to the Civil  Wing.  The Division Bench  observed that such a contention could not be accepted  as  even after the promotion, the writ petitioners continued to  work in the Auto Workshop which formed  part of the  Electrical Wing.          As indicated hereinabove, nothing has been shown on  behalf of NDMC which could have persuaded us to take a view  which was different from that  of the Single Judge and the  Division Bench of the Delhi High Court.          

In such circumstances, we see no reason to interfere with  the decision of the High Court and the appeal is accordingly  dismissed but without any order as to costs.