C. HARI SHANKAR, J.

1. This writ petition, at the instance of M/s Shri Moolchand Khairati Ram Hospital & Ayurvedic Research Institute, challenges Award, dated 28 April, 2004, passed by the learned Industrial Tribunal-II, Karkardooma, holding the petitioner liable to pay bonus, to its employees, under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”), for the year 1997-1998. The contention, of the petitioner, that it was exempt from the requirement of such payment, under sub-clause (c) of clause (v) of Section 32 of the Act [referred to, hereinafter, for the sake of expediency, as “Section 32(v)(c)”] of the Act, stands negatived by the learned Tribunal, relying on earlier judicial pronouncements including the judgments of the Supreme Court in Workmen of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam vs Management, AR 1980 SC 604 and, perhaps more significantly, State of T.N. v. K. Sabanayagam, (1998) 1 SCC 318.

2. The neat issue that arises for consideration in the present case, therefore, is whether the benefit of Section 32(v)(c) of the Act would enure, in law, in favour of the petitioner. If it does, the employees of the petitioner would, by operation of the said provi