Judgment

WANCHOO, J. : These two appeals by special leave arise out of two references made by the Government of Bombay in connection with a dispute between the appellant-company and two sets of its workmen, namely, clerical staff and staff other than clerical. The clerical staff had raised four questions which were referred to the Industrial Tribunal, Bombay for adjudication. Of these, only two points survive in the present appeal, namely, retirement age and gratuity. The non-clerical staff had raised two questions of which only one relating to gratuity arises before us.

2. It appears that the appellant-company is an all-India concern but the major part of its business is concentrated in Calcutta. The number of non-clerical staff outside Calcutta is very small as compared to the non-clerical staff in Calcutta while the clerical staff outside Calcutta is much less than the clerical staff in Calcutta. The company had a gratuity scheme in force which applied to both clerical and non-clerical staff, though there were differences in the scale of payment depending upon whether the basic salary drawn by workmen-other than operatives was more than Rs. 100 or less. In case of operatives, ther