The main legal point established in the judgment is that teachers, mainly employed for imparting education, are not intended to be covered for extending gratuity benefits under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.

( 1 ) THIS appeal has been preferred by Ahmedabad Private Primary Teachers Association. The Association complains that in the petition filed by an individual teacher [respondent No. 2 herein] employed in a school run by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the Full Bench of the High Court of Gujarat by impugned judgment dated 4. 5. 2001 in Special Civil Application No. 5272 of 1987 not only rejected the claim of the teacher for payment of gratuity under the provisions of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 [for short the Act] but has decided an important question of law against the teachers as a class that they do not fall within the definition of employee as contained in Section 2 (e) of the Act and hence can raise no claim to gratuity under the Act.

( 2 ) THE definition of employee contained in Section 2 (e) of the Act of 1972 reads as under: 2 (e ). employee means any person (other than an apprentice) employed on wages, in any establishment, factory, mine, oilfield, plantation, port, railway company or shot, to do any skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled, manual, supervisory, technical or clerical work, whether the terms of such employment are express or implied, [and whether or not such person is employed in a managerial or administrative capacity, but does not include any such person who holds a post under the Central Government or a State Government and is governed by any other Act or by any rules providing for payment of gratuity]. [underlining given emphasis]

( 3 ) ONE of the learned Judges of the High Court in his separate concurring opinion held that as gratuity payable to teachers employed in schools of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation are governed by statutory regulations known as Gratuity Regulations of the Municipal Corporation of the city of Ahmedabad framed by the Corporation under Section 465 (i) (h) of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, such teachers even if held to be covered by main part of definition of employee are expressly excluded by the last exclusionary clause of the definition show by underlying it as above.

( 4 ) AS all the learned Judges have unanimously held that teachers are not covered by the definition of employee under Section 2 (e) of the Act, it has become necessary for this Court to consider the correctness of the view with regard to the applicability of the Act to the teachers as a class.

( 5 ) WE have heard the learned Counsel appearing for all contesting parties. As the legal question involved is general in nature affecting teachers as a class, on our request, Senior Advocate Dr. Rajeev Dhawan appeared as amicus curiae. We are immensely benefited by his able assistance, which we thankfully acknowledge.

( 6 ) THE Act is a piece of social welfare legislation and deals with the payment of gratuity which is a kind of retrial benefit like pension, provident fund etc. As has been explained in the concurring opinion of one of the learned Judges of the High Court gratuity in its etymological sense is a gift, especially for services rendered, or return for favours received. It has now been universally recognized that all persons in society need protection against loss of income due to unemployment arising out of incapacity to work due to invalidity, old age etc. For the wage earning population, security of income, when the worker becomes old or infirm, is of consequential importance. The provisions contained in the Act are in the nature of social security measures like employment insurance, provident fund and pension. The Act accepts, in principle, compulsory payment of gratuity as a social security measure to wage earning population in industries, factories and establishments.

( 7 ) THUS, the main purpose and concept of gratuity is to help the workman after retirement, whether, retirement is a result of rules of superannuation, or physical disablement or impairment of vital part of the body. The expression, gratuity itself suggests that it is a gratuitous payment given to an