- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) Appellant is a local authority constituted under the New Delhi Municipal Act, 1994. It has been performing its municipal functions in the New Delhi area; one of them being distribution of electricity to the consumers upon buying the same from the Electricity Supply Companies. For the said purpose, it has a electricity department. In the said department, there were posts of Meter Readers as also Shifts Incharge. The pay scale of Shifts In-charge was Rs. 220-400 and that of the Meter Readers Rs. 185-300. The post of Meter Readers was meant to be filled up by direct recruitment. 17 senior most Shift In charge, however, for certain reasons opted to become Meter Readers. As they were working in a higher scale of pay, their pay was protected. Such protection of pay was given to them by an Order dated 10.2.1982, stating : "1. The matter regarding revision of pay scale from Rs. 185-300 to Rs. 220-440 of those Meter Readers who were promoted as Meter Readers from the Cadre of Shift-In- charge II Grade was discussed in the meeting held on 15.12.81 at 11.00 AM under the Chairmanship of the Administrator. It was decided by the Administrator that the matter be examined whether higher pay scale of Rs. 220-400 could be given to the 17 such senior-most Meter Readers, purely as on ad hoc measure which would be personal to them. 2. Accordingly, the case was discussed in the meeting of Heads of Departments namely CE(E)/CE(C)/FA,CA, Secretary, MOH, DD(H) and LWO headed by the Administrator on 06.02.1982 and was decided that the pay scale of Rs. 220-10-300-EB-400 be allowed w.e.f. 6.2.82 to all those 17 Meter Readers who had previously worked as Shift In charge Grade II, but this revision of scale will be personal to them without making any precedent." Some other Meter Readers who were in services of the appellant at the relevant time raised an industrial dispute purported to be on the premise that they had been discriminated against. Reference was made to the Presiding Officer, Industrial Tribunal No. 3, Delhi for determination of inter-alia the following industrial dispute:- "1. Whether the pay scale of Meter Readers should be revised from Rs. 520-815 to Rs. 590-1000/- as has been done in case of 17 Meter Readers namely 1) Shri Turen Singh, 2) Ram Chander Singh, 3) Shri Rameshwar Lal Bali, 4. Shri Prem Chand Sharma, 5. Raj Kumar Kalia (6) Sh. Prabhu Dayal, (7) Sh. Anand Kishore Aggarwal (8) Shri Jagannath Parshad (9) Sh. D.P. Malhotra (10) Sh. Bhu Dev Sharma (11) Sh. Sukh Dev Singh (12) Shri Ajaib Singh (13) Shri H.C. Chauhan (14) Shri K.S. Rawat (15) Shri Devi Sanai, (16) Shri Mansa Ram, (17) Shri Subhash Chand Sharma and if so what directions are necessary in this respect -
(3.) Respondents were not parties therein. They did not file any application for their impleadment. By reason of an Award dated 7.1.1998, the Industrial Court directed :- "In the light of the above observations of the meter readers, who were in service at the time when the benefit was given to 17 meter readers, whose names are morefully detailed in Annexure B of claim statement are entitled to get the benefit of the said order in the similar manner in which the same has been given to those 17 meter readers purely as an adhoc measure to be personal to them and discrimination made by the management amongst the same class of meter readers is an act of arbitrariness and amounts to misuse of the principles of law. The management is directed to pay the arrears of the said amount on the same analogy to which 17 meter readers have been given benefit to the same as per order dated 12.02.82 within a period of 6 months from the date the award become enforceable under law failing which the meter readers of the said period will be entitled to get an interest @ 18% per annum to the same...";