JUDGMENT

Dated this the 12^th day of March 2026 Devan Ramachandran, J The constitutive issue in this appeal revolves on the question, whether some of the heads of payment made by the respondent to their employees – namely “site inspection”, “conveyance allowance” and “ERNI”, ought to be construed to be part of basic wages, for the purpose of calculation of the contribution kpayable to the Provident Fund.

2. The matter has travelled all the way up to this Court, after the Central Government Industrial Tribunal – cum - Labour Court Ernakulam, the (Tribunal for ‘Short’) found against the 1^st respondent; with them, challenging its order, namely ExtP7, by filing WP(C)No.4879 of 2022.

3. A learned Judge of this Court allowed the writ petition, holding that the aforementioned allowances cannot be construed to be part of basic wages because, they were not paid universally to all employees by the 1^st respondent; and the Ass