UNNIKRISHNAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioners are retired non-managerial employees of Malabar Cements Limited, Palakkad. The petitioners seek to direct the respondents to allow revised Gratuity to them.

(2.) The petitioners state that though the Malabar Cements Limited, Palakkad is in the A Grade category among the Public Sector Undertakings, the wages paid to the non-managerial employees in the Company are only half of 2024:KER:70809 W.P.(C) Nos.20702/2020 and 18792/2022 the salaries drawn by the non-managerial employees in other A Grade Public Sector Undertakings. The wage structure in the Malabar Cements Limited is governed by the Central Board Settlements reached at National level between Cement Manufacturers Associations and National Trade Unions.

(3.) The salary structure under Cement Wage Board Award comprises various components, such as Basic pay, Variable Dearness Allowance ((VDA), Fixed Dearness Allowance (FDA) and a group of other allowances, which constitutes 35% of the total pay. These allowances will be excluded while determining the Gratuity amount. Therefore, the non-managerial employees of the Company get a very low amount of Gratuity compared to employees of other Public Sector Undertakings, where the salary elements to be excluded for computing gratuity would be less than 5%.