MAHARASHTRA STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD Vs. M C CHITALE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Point of some importance regarding the applicability of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, ("Bonus Act" for short) to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, is involved in the present petition.

(2.) To discuss the core question, it will be necessary to notice some basic facts and so also the background, which is as under :

(3.) Two trade unions, viz., Maharashtra Veej Mandal Nokar Sangh and the Maharashtra Veej Mandal Kamgar Sangh demanded bonus for the years 1965-66 to 1969-70 at 20% of the annual earnings in terms of the Bonus Act and this led to a reference under S. 10(1)(d) read with S. 12(5) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, by the State Government for adjudication to the Industrial Tribunal. The Petitioner-Board took the stand that the Bonus Act does not apply to it in view of the exemption granted under S. 32 of the Bonus Act. On quantum of the claim, the stand was that there was no "available surplus" and nothing beyond the minimum prescribed could be given After ransacking oral as well as documentary evidence and the records of the petitioner, contention about absence of available surplus was accepted by the tribunal, after rejecting the preliminary objection with regard to the applicability of the exemption clause. It seems that the minimum bonus was already paid by the petitioner. There has been no challenge to the quantum part of the award. Thus what survives is the preliminary point raised.