Judgment

DAS GUPTA, J. : This appeal by special leave arises out of an industrial dispute between the appellant company, and their clerical staff on the question of bonus for the year 1956. The demand of the workmen was for bonus equivalent to 8 months, total earnings of the year. The company resisted this demand mainly on the ground that there was in existence an agreement between the company and its labour employees - whereby bonus for the year 1956 had been settled at 4.1/2 moths basic wages, that the general practice in awards in the matter of bonus had in the past been to award or grant lesser amounts to clerical employees than to labour, and that in any case, to grant the same rate of bonus to clerical employees and labour employees would be "to encourage or to invite strife and discontent". The Tribunal held that such an agreement as regards bonus for 1956 had been voluntarily entered into on behalf of the workers and was beneficial to them and was of opinion that the bonus to the clerical staff ought to be on the same scale. On the one hand, it rejected the clerical staff s claim for bonus at a higher rate than what the workmen were entitled to, as this "would lead to indus