Chief Executive Officer Vs K.V. Puttaraju (Karnataka High Court)
Conclusion: High Court favoured an order passed by the Controlling Authority/ Appellate Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, which directed government bodies to pay gratuity amount claimed by former employees from the time they were employed as daily wage earners till their employment was regularised.
Held: Appeallant were the Government bodies being part of the Department of Panchayat Raj. Respondent were initially employed as daily wage workers. The Government by its order regularized the services of respondent with certain cut off dates. Respondent retired from the services on receiving their pension amounts and gratuity. After such retirement, they submitted the applications before the Controlling Authority claiming that they were entitled to gratuity from the date of their induction as daily wage workers. The main ground of challenge was that respondent were not the employees within the meaning of Section 2(e), therefore the petutions were not maintainable. It was contended that the impugned orders were without jurisdiction and liable to be quashed. It was held that admittedly the government paid gratuity only covering the period from the date of their regularisation till their retirement on attaining superannuation. While paying gratuity, the government did not take into consideration the services rendered by respondent from the date of their appointment as daily wage workers till the date of their regularisation. During that period, respondent was not governed by the KCSR or for any other rules for payment of gratuity. The petitions were partly allowed. The impugned orders regarding payment of gratuity were confirmed. The petitioners were jointly and severally liable to pay the gratuity amount to respondent with interest thereon at 10% per annum from the date of the applications till the date of deposit.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF KARNATAKA HIGH COURT
The above petitions are filed seeking quashing of the orders of the Controlling Authority/ Appellate Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (‘the Act’ for short) awarding gratuity amount claimed by respondent No.1 with interest at 10% per annum.
The particulars of the impugned orders are as follows:
| Sl. No. |
Writ petition | Date of order | Amount awarded |
|
| Controlling Authority |
Appellate Authority |
|||
| 1 | 46017/2017 | 16.12.2014 | 06.01.2016 | 85,758/- |
| 2 | 46019/2017 | 15.12.2014 | 06.01.2016 | 84,116/- |
| 3 | 46105/2017 | 15.12.2014 | – | 1,24,615/- |
| 4 | 46106/2017 | 15.12.2014 | – | 1,59,547/- |
| 5 | 46107/2017 | 17.12.2014 | – | 1,81,220/- |
| 6 | 46108/2017 | 16.12.2014 | 06.01.2016 | 47,114/- |
2. The petitioners are the Government bodies being part of the Department of Panchayat Raj. Respondent No.1 in the above cases were initially employed as daily wage workers. The Government by its order regularized the services of respondent No.1 with certain cut off dates.
Respondent No.1 retired from the services on receiving their pension amounts and gratuity.
3. After such retirement, they submitted the applications before the Controlling Authority claiming that they were entitled to gratuity from the date of their induction as daily wage workers. The particulars of date of appointment as daily wage workers, date of their regularization, date of retirement, date of applications and the amount received by respondent No.1 are set out in the table below.
