A conviction by a Criminal Court of competent jurisdiction is not required for the purpose of forfeiting gratuity under sub-clause II of Clause (b) of sub-section 6 of Section 4 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, provided the act or omission complained of is deliberate as also immoral.

( 1 ) THE subject-matter of challenge in this writ petition is an order dated 6th december, 1987 passed by the Controlling Authority under the Payment of gratuity Act, 1972 and an order passed by the Appellate Authority dated 10th january, 1994 copies whereof are Annexures 'g' and 'j' to the writ petition respectively. The Controlling Authority held that the gratuity forfeited by the writ petitioner was payable to the workman. The appellate authority did not interfere. Briefly stated the facts are as follows.

( 2 ) THE respondent No. 1 was charge-sheeted for fraud, dishonesty, acting in a manner prejudicial to the interest of the Company and acts subversive of good conduct and behaviour. After a domestic enquiry he was dismissed from service on 22nd December, 1983. The writ petitioner forfeited the gratuity payable to the respondent No. 1 on the ground that the misconduct of the respondent no. 1 was grave and involved moral turpitude. The respondent No. 1 challenged the decision of the writ petitioner before the Controlling Authority. The Controlling authority by the aforesaid order directed the writ petitioner to pay the gratuity along with interest amounting to a sum of Rs. 48,111/- together with interest at the rate of 9 per cent from the date the gratuity became payable until the date of payment. The gratuity was forfeited by the writ petitioner under the provisions of clause II of sub-section 6 of Section 4 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 which provides as follows:-Section 4 (6) "notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1)- (a) The gratuity of an employee, whose services have been terminated, for wilful omission or negligence causing any damage or loss to, or destruction of, property belonging to the employer, shall be fortified to the extent of the damage or loss so caused; (b) The gratuity payable to an employee may be wholly or partially forfeited- (i) If the services of such employee have been terminated for his riotous or disorderly conduct or any other act of violence on his part, or (ii) If the services of such employee have been terminated for any act which constitutes an offence involving moral turpitude, provided that such offence is committed by him in the course of his employment. "

( 3 ) THE Controlling Authority in its judgment dated 6th May, 1987 appears to have formulated the following points:-" (i) Whether the charges of misconduct, resulting into applicant's dismissal, involved moral turpitude? (ii) Whether the employer was correct in forfeiting gratuity amount to which the applicant was entitled, as per Section 4 (6) (b) (ii) of the Act? if not, to (iii) What would be the gratuity amount payable?"

( 4 ) THE point No. 1 has been answered in the negative for two reasons: (a) the employee was not convicted by any Court of Criminal jurisdiction for any such offence and (b) no opportunity was given to the employee to explain or defend himself of an order forfeiting the gratuity.

( 5 ) BASED on the answer to issue No. 1 the issue Nos. 2 and 3 were answered and direction for payment with interest was issued.

( 6 ) THE appellate authority in dismissing the appeal held as follows:-"now, since the Act does not define 'moral turpitude' recourse has to be taken to judicial decisions for proper understanding of the meaning of the expression. Since no such recourse taken as discussed above before forfeiting the gratuity, the action of the appellant-company relating to forfeiture of gratuity to the respondent in this appeal case is unreasonable, unjustified and illegal. Hence, I do not interfere with the findings of the learned controlling Authority on this issue and fully agree with the observations of the Controlling Authority in this regard. "

( 7 ) MR. L. K. Gupta, learned Senior Advocate, appearing in support of the writ petition advanced two submissions (a) sub-section 6 of Section 4 of the payment of Gratuity Act provides for forfeiture of the gratuity where the offence in