PEERLESS INN Vs. FIRST LABOUR COURT

JUDGEMENT

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(2.) Mr. Ranjay De, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner company placed Clause 5 before this Court and argued that the service charge that is collected on Food and Beverage sales was decided to be disbursed amongst all the employees and the managerial personnel connected with the hotel functioning. It was his submission that the service charge is only payable to personnel who are functioning in the hotel, and not to personnel that have been suspended. He submitted that as the employees in question were suspended, and the said suspension having been upheld by the Industrial Tribunal by an order dated December 17, 2018, there was no question of the service charge being treated as part of wages.

(3.) He further relied on the West Bengal Payment of Subsistence Allowance Act, 1969 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Subsistence Act') and specifically placed Section 2(f) defining 'suspension' and Section 2(g) defining 'wages'. He submitted that the definition of wages in the Subsistence Act would be the meaning assigned to the term 'wages' in Section 2(rr) of the said Act. He further placed reliance on Section 3 to indicate that the Subsistence Act only quantifies the amount of the subsistence allowance payable to an employee and nothing more.