1994 Supreme(Guj) 161

Gujarat High Court
Judgename :J.M.Panchal
PROJECT MANAGER ONGC LIMITED - Appellant
Versus
SHAM KUMAR SEHGAL - Respondent
S.C.A. 2779 of 1980
Decided On : 06/21/1994

Headnote:Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 - Secs. 8, 9, 13 & 14 - Bonus - Payment of - During suspension period - Which was rendered illegal by the Tribunal - Employee subsequently reinstated - Held, employee was prevented from doing work during period of suspension - He is entitled for Bonus.

       The fact that the Court directed the petitioner to pay full backwages for the period of suspension indicates that the action of the petitioner in suspending deceased employee from service was illegal and not justified at all. Even otherwise, the misconduct proved against deceased employee was not serious one and having regard to the facts of the case, the disciplinary authority had thought it fit to impose penalty of only stoppage of one increment with future effect. In view of the misconduct held to have been proved against deceased employee, his suspension was not justified at all and the said action was totally illegal. The deceased employee was prevented from rendering work in the establishment by an overt act of the petitioner. But for the suspension order, normal circumstances would have prevailed and he would have worked so as to be eligible for claiming bonus. The order passed by the petitioner itself also makes it very clear that the period of suspension of the deceased employee was to be taken into consideration for continuity of his services. The fact that the deceased employee was ready and willing to perform his work is apparent as he resumed duty on April 7, 1978 pursuant to the order dated April 6, 1978 issued by the petitioner. It cannot, therefore, be said that though the deceased employee was deemed to have been in service pursuant to the reinstatement, he could not be deemed to have put in the attendance required by the relevant statutory provisions to claim the bonus.

       [Para 11]

       Labour law - Wages - Bonus - Meaning - Bonus is the difference between the actual wage and the living wage.

       It is well settled that the payment of bonus is not the product of generosity of the employer but is one paid in the name of industrial peace and to make available to every employee a living wage which more often is more than the actual wage. It is thus, the difference between the actual wage and the living wage which is ascertained on the basis of available material, such as available surplus, industrywise wages or regionwise wages and various other aspects connected with bonus and organisations. Bonus itself being a payment made by an employer to an employee to maintain industrial harmony and to give a fillip to the employees to exert their utmost to keep up the industry active and aloft, such involuntary stepping down from work by an employee cannot be termed or equated to non-working of the employee in the establishment. It is only in the wake of such a clear, undisturbed and normal atmosphere that the formula of eligibility prescribed in Section 8 has to be worked and understood. In this sense, if everything is normal, the worker to sustain a case for bonus or to be eligible for it, should work in the establishment for not less than 30 working days in that year. But in abnormal circumstances wherein he is prevented from working by an overt act on the part of the employer which is ultimately set aside and the employee is reinstated in service, then the reasonable inference is that the employees statutory eligibility for bonus within the meaning of Section 8 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 cannot be said to have been lost. Nor can the employer refuse to accede to a demand for such bonus if it is otherwise payable under the provisions of the Act.

       [Paras 8 & 9]

       Words & Phrase - Work - Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 - Sec. 8 - Should mean ready and willing to work.

       The word worked in Section 8 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, having regard to the historic background already referred to, should mean ready and willing to work. Such working should not be understood with reference to the dictionary meaning of the word and the eligibility understood in the abstract.

       [Para 9]