Dear Madhu ji,
I am not in favour of discrimination between workers and supervisors and managers, who are controlled by the contract of employment and not by law. You contention may be true from the point of view of legislation but in the larger interest of organisation, an employer will be foolish to make such a distinction. I have observed that it is customery for the employers to disburse the Puja bonus to all their employees irrespect of their categories or positions in the state of West Bengal. Even the Supreme Court has often encouraged such customary pratices but has fixed ceratin criteria in their judgments in case of (1) M/s. Ispahani Limited v Ispahani Employees' Union; (2) Grahams Trading Company (India) Limited v Their Workmen; (3) M/s. Tulsi Das Khimji v Their Workmen and (4) Vegetable Products Limited v Their Workmen and has held that in order to establish the claim for a customary bonus or traditional bonus or puja bonus four conditions must be fulfilled, namely:
(i) that the payment has been made over an unbroken series of years;
(ii) that it has been so made for a sufficiently long period;
(iii) that the payment has been made at a uniform rate throughout; and
(iv) lastly, that it has been paid even in years of loss and did not depend upon the earning of profits.
BS Kalsi
Member since Aug 2011