1. By way of this petition under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India the petitioner has prayed for an appropriate writ, order or direction to quash and set aside the impugned order passed by the Appellate Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘appellate authority’) dated 11/11/2004 in Appeal No. 44/2004 by which the learned appellate authority has allowed the said appeal preferred by the respondent herein and has quashed and set aside the order passed by the controlling authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act directing the respondent to pay Rs.56,538/- with 10% interest thereon from 01/09/1997 by observing that the conditions as envisaged under Section 4 of the Act has not been fulfilled as it cannot be said that the petitioner has completed five years of continuous service.

2. The facts leading to the present Special Civil Application in a nutshell are as under;

2.1. The petitioner herein was serving with the respondent since 1984. He tendered voluntary resignation and left the services of the respondent on and from 1997. As the amount of gratuity was denied to the petitioner he approached the controlling authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 by submitting Form ‘N’. Vide order dated 12/07/2000 the controlling authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act allowed the said application and directed the respondent to pay a total sum of Rs.56,538/- with 10% interest thereon from 01/09/1997. It appears that thereafter the respondent preferred review application, which came to be rejected by the controlling authority vide order dated 22/10/2001. It appears that feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned orders passed by the controlling authority dated 12/07/2000 and 22/10/2001, the respondent preferred appeal before the learned appellate authority, which came to be dismissed on the ground of limitation vide order dated 16/12/2003. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the order passed by the learned appellate authority dated 16/12/2003 in Appeal No.81/2003 dismissing the appeal on the ground of limitation, the respondent preferred Special Civil Application No.3319/2004 before this Court and by impugned judgment and order dated 05/05/2004 the learned Single Judge allowed the said Special Civil Application and remanded the matter to the learned appellate authority to decide the appeal in accordance with law and on its own merits on imposing the cost of Rs.10,000/-upon the respondent. Thereafter, the appeal came to be heard by the learned appellate authority, being Appeal No.44/2004. It was contented on behalf of the respondent that as the ceiling of wages for coverage of the Act came to be removed by Act 34 of 1994 with effect from 24/05/1994 and prior thereto there was ceiling of wages for coverage of the Act i.e. Rs.3500/- and prior to 1994 the wages of the petitioner was above Rs.3500/-, the period for which the petitioner worked prior to 24/05/1994 is not required to be counted for the purpose of continuous five years service and, therefore, the petitioner had not completed continuous five years of service as provided under Section 4 of the Act and is not entitled to the amount of gratuity. Accepting the aforesaid submissions/contentions on behalf of the respondent by the impugned judgment and order the learned appellate authority has allowed the appeal preferred by the respondent and has held that the amendment in Section 2(e) of the Act by Act 34 of 1994 removing the ceiling of wages for coverage of the Act has come into effect from 24/05/1994 and prior thereto the petitioner was getting the wages beyond the ceiling of wages and, therefore, the petitioner has not completed continuous five years service and has not fulfilled the conditions as provided under Section 4 of the Act and, therefore, is not entitled to the amount of gratuity and consequently has allowed the said appeal by quashing and setting aside the order passed by the controlli