S.RANGANATHAN Vs. THE FERTILISERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellants are the unsuccessful writ petitioners. They were all managerial employees of the Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited ("FACT" for short). They all had resigned in between the second half of 2007 and first half of 2008. It appears that the management took a decision to enhance and or revise remunerations for its employees including the managerial staff with effect from 1.1.2007. These decisions were taken by Exhibit P7 order dated 14.8.2010. The management decided to give this benefit to the employees who were working as on the date of order, employees who had died in harness after 1.1.2007, employees who had superannuated after 1.1.2007 and to those employees who had sought voluntary retirement after 1.1.2007. However the employees who had resigned in between 2007 and 2010 were not conferred with the benefit of wage enhancement or other improvements in emoluments and their request for earned leave encashment and balance of gratuity was not acceded to. That is precisely the grievance of the employees who had resigned in between.

(2.) On their behalf, it is submitted that a reference to section 4 of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 ("the Act" for short) would show that an employee upon retirement, resignation, removal, dismissal, are entitled to gratuity upon completion of 5 years of service. Submission being that though the Act treats all of them as one class, when the gratuity payable was enhanced retrospectively from 3.5 lakhs to 10 lakhs and the management decided to extend this benefit to others, as noted above, leaving out the appellants, who had resigned in that period, would be discriminatory. Similar is the submission with regard to earned leave encashment.

(3.) We have heard the parties at length and with their consent are disposing of this appeal at this stage itself.