JACOB M PUTHUPARAMBIL JACOB M PUTHUPARAMBIL P MOHANAN SASIDHARAN C P C A JOSE MARY C L NAZAR K M P V SASIKUMAR PARASSALA SIVANANDAN M S SREEKUMAR Vs. KERALA WATER AUTHORITY:KERALA WATER AUTHORITY:KERALA WATER AUTHORITY:STATE OF KERALA:STATE OF KERALA:STATE OF KERALA:KERALA WATER AUTHORITY:KERALA WATER AUTHORITY:KER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In special leave petitions, leave granted.

(2.) An autonomous body called the Kerala Water and Waste Water Authority was constituted with effect from 1 st April, 1984 under Section 3(1) of the Kerala Water and Waste Water Ordinance, 1984 (No. 14 of 1984) which Ordinance was brought into force w.e.f. 1st March, 1984. This ordinance was replaced by similar Ordinances issued from time to time, the last being Ordinance No. 27 of 1986 which was in turn replaced by the Kerala Water Supply and Sewerage Act. 1986 (Act No. 14 of 1986), (hereinafter called 'the Act') : Section 1(3) whereof provides that it shall be deemed to have come into force on 1 st March, 1984 This Act, besides providing for the establishment of an autonomous authority to be called the Kerala Water Authority, makes provision for the development and regulation of water supply and waste water collection and disposal and for matters connected therewith. There is no dispute that the functions which were carried on by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) were transferred to the autonomous body on the enactment of the Ordinance No. 14 of 1984. After the enactment of the Act, every person working in the PHED became the employee of the Kerala Water Authority (for short the 'Authority') by virtue of Section 19(l) of the Act, which reads as under:

(3.) The staff members employed by the Authority after its constitution were naturally appointed under the provisions of the concerned statute. Since the Act has retrospective effect, reference may be made to Section 8(1) of the Act which reads thus: