ORDER :- This is a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution. The petitioner is a public limited company which carried on the business of manufacturing and selling textiles and other commercial products. A branch of the petitioners business is carried on under the name of Cooper Alien and Co., and on 13-4-1951, the petitioner issued a notice to its employees in that branch informing them that the directors had sanctioned the payment of a gratuity (by which, it is common ground, is meant what is ordinarily termed a bonus) in respect of the year ending 31-12-1950, equal to three months basic wages. Certain qualifying conditions were laid down in the notice which further stated that acceptance of the gratuity would be held to imply that it had been accepted in full and complete satisfaction of all claims for a gratuity in respect of that period. Payment of the bonus was made accordingly by the petitioner in May, 1951, to all the employees of Cooper Alien and Co., who qualified therefor, and receipts were given by such employees in full and final settlement of all claims for bonus in respect of that year.

2. On 28-7-1951, the Kanpur Mechanical and Technical Workers Union, respondent N

Click Here to Read the rest of this document