The Management of A.P.S.R.T.C has invoked the jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India aggrieved by the award of the Industrial Tribunal, Hyderabad, in I.D. No. 19 of 1997 dated 06.02.1998, wherein it was held that employees of the A.P.S.R.T.C. were entitled to be paid the difference between the ex-gratia payable to them in accordance with the amended Payment of Bonus Act and the actual ex-gratia paid to them under the pre-amended Payment of Bonus Act.

2. On a dispute being raised by the 1st respondent - union, the Government of A.P, vide G.O.Rt. No. 662 dated 17.4.1997, referred the following dispute for adjudication by the Industrial Tribunal:-

"Whether the APSRTC Employees Union is justified in demanding the Managing of APSRTC for payment of Ex-gratia for the year 1993-94 and to formulate exempted employees pension scheme? If so to what relief the workman are entitled to?"

3. The petitioner-corporation started paying ex-gratia to its employees pursuant to a memorandum of settlement dated 15.6.1966. It kept increasing the wage limit for payment of, the quantum of, and the percentage of minimum ex-gratia as and when the Payment of Bonus Act was amended, and the wage limit as well as the percentage of minimum bonus payable under the said Act was increased. When the statutory minimum bonus, under the Payment of Bonus Act, was raised from 4% to 8.33%, the petitioner increased the ex-gratia by a similar extent from the year 1971-72 onwards. Similarly, when the salary/wages, on the basis of which bonus was paid, was increased from Rs.1600/- to Rs.2500/- per month from the years 1985-86 onwards, the petitioner paid ex-gratia to all its employees drawing monthly wages of upto Rs.2500/-. The Payment of Bonus Act was again amended in the year 1995 with retrospective effect from 1.4.1993. As a result, the wage limit was raised from Rs.2500/- to Rs.3500/- and the wage limit for calculation of bonus was also raised from Rs.1600/- to Rs.2500/-. While ex-gratia was paid to the employees for the years 1993-94 and 1994-95, before amendment of the Payment of Bonus Act, at the request of the Union a settlement was entered into on 12.1.1996 whereby the petitioner agreed to pay ex-gratia for the years 1994- 95 and 1995-96 as per the amended Payment of Bonus Act. The petitioner also agreed to pay Rs.2000/- as Transport Minister's Goodwill Amount, for the years 1994-95 and 1995-96, to each employee whose pay plus dearness allowance exceeded Rs.3500/- per month. Since the petitioner - Corporation did not pay additional ex-gratia for the year 1993-94, the 1st respondent union served a strike notice on 15.3.1997 resulting in the reference being made to the Industrial Tribunal by the Government.

The Tribunal framed the following points for consideration:

(1) Whether 1st respondent union can raise the dispute;

(2) Whether there exists industrial dispute.

(3) Whether the employees of APSRTC are entitled to enhanced ex-gratia for the year 1993-94

5. Before the Industrial Tribunal, Exs.W.1 to W.21 were marked as exhibits on behalf of the 1st respondent - union. On behalf of the petitioner, M.Ws.1 and 2 were examined and Exs.M.1 to M.16 were marked as exhibits. On issue No.1, the Tribunal observed that, the 1st respondent union represented between 7000 to 8000 workers throughout the State and as such could raise a dispute though it was a minority union.

6. On issue No.2, while noting that Ex.W.21 settlement dated 21.10.1997 was arrived at between the majority union and the petitioner management, under Section 12(3) of the I.D. Act, the Tribunal observed that there was no settlement on the issue of payment of ex-gratia and that both the management, and the majority union, had merely agreed to abide by the award of the Tribunal. The Tribunal, accordingly, held that there was a dispute in existence from the date of the reference. On issue No.3, the Tribunal noted that the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 was not applicable to t