Judgement

WANCHOO J. : This is an appeal by special leave in an industrial matter. The appellant is the Grahams Trading Co. (India) Ltd. (hereinafter called the company). There was a dispute between the company and its workman about bonus, which was referred by the Government of West Bengal by its order of December 17, 1953 to the Second Industrial Tribunal. Though the order of reference did not specify the year for which the bonus was in dispute, it is common ground between the parties that the dispute was for bonus for the year 1953. The case of the workmen, who are respondents before us, was that the company had been paying one month s bonus invariably from 1940 to 1950. In 1951, one month s bonus was paid in October and half a month s further bonus was paid in December. In 1952 one month s bonus was paid. The demand that the workmen made in their letter of August 27, 1953, was for three months bonus. The company replied that payments in past years had been entirely ex gratia and as there was loss in 1953 it was not possible to make any ex gratia payment that year. The workmen then contended in their letter of September 21, 1953 that the sole object of bonus which had been grant