SECRETARY ORISSA STATE HOUSING BOARD Vs. DURGAMADHAB NAYAK

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application by the Orissa State Housing Board against the award passed by the Labour Court under Section 33- C (2) of the Industrial Disputes Act directing payment of bonus to the N. M. R. employees working under the Board and quantifying their entitlements in Annexure-2. The award was passed in I. D. Misc. Case No. 67 of 1984.

(2.) TWO contentions were raised before the Labour Court as well as here, namely, the petitioner-Housing Board is not an establishment to which the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 was applicable and secondly, the N. M. R. employees serving under the Board were not entitled to bonus under the provisions of the Act.

(3.) THE first contention has no substance. Admittedly the Board is paying bonus to its other regular employees and is an establishment in public sector as defined in Clause (16) of Section 2 of the Payment of Bonus Act. The next question is if the N. M. R. employees were entitled to bonus under Section 8 of the Act. Section 8 reads as under: