JUDGMENT :

1. This Full Bench has been constituted by Hon’ble the Chief Justice pursuant to an order of reference dated 20th July 2018 made by a Division Bench headed by Hon’ble the Chief Justice to consider and determine the following questions:

(i) “As to whether the appellant, being a ‘temple’ as defined in clause (27) of Section 2 of the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997, answers to the description of ‘commercial establishment’ within the meaning of clause (e) of Section 2 of the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 and thereby, is an ‘establishment’ within the meaning of the said Act of 1961; and hence, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 is in applicable to it by virtue of clause (b) of subsection (3) of Section 1 thereof?

(ii) As to whether the law declared by the Division Bench of this Court in the case of Management of Venkataramana Swamy Temple (supra), that a clerk in a temple is entitled to claim the benefit of gratuity on attaining the age of superannuation under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, stands in c