M.KATJU, J. - (1.) Heard Sri Mohit Kumar learned counsel for the High Court Bar Association, Allahabad. None appears for respondents although the name of Sri A.S. Diwakar has been shown in the cause list. This special appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment dated May 7, 2003 of the learned single judge which dismissed the writ petition of the High Court Bar Association challenging the order under the Payment of Gratuity Act.
(2.) In our opinion this special appeal deserves to be allowed on the short point that the Payment of Gratuity Act does not apply to the High Court Bar Association at all. Section 1(3) of the Payment of Gratuity Act states: "(3) It shall apply to- (a) every factory, mine, oilfield, plantation, port and railway company; (b) every shop or establishment within the meaning of any law for the time being in force in relation to shops and establishments in a State, in which ten or more persons are employed, or were employed, on any day of the preceding twelve months; (c) such other establishments or class of establishments, in which ten or more employees are employed, or were employed, on any day of the preceding twelve months, as the Central Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf."
(3.) An establishment comes within the purview of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 only if it belongs to one of the three categories specified in Section 1(3) of the Act.;