Dear Suresh,
Sorry, I am unable to accept your presumption that project based service, if any, rendered by the questioner on FTC would extinguish his claim for gratuity in view of the F&F done at the close of each project. I don't think that actuarial basis gratuity would be added to the cost of the project if its gestation period is certainly less than 5 years so as to get reflected in the F&F amounts. In fact, here, the employer remains the same Construction Company through out the continuous tenure of 9 years despite the different projects,if any to which the employee could have been deputed on their successive completion during the course of 9 years. In other words, he was in the service of the same employer continuously at different projects or locations. Your view point may be based on the actual practice being generally adopted in the construction industry in respect of lower level jobs like site watchman. The veracity of such a practice remains unquestioned as long as there are no complaints. But, on the face of a claim for gratuity, what is important is whether the contract of service between the employer/ the Construction Company and the employee/claimant remained in tact amidst the consecutive changes in the projects after their successive completion.
Coming to the claim for gratuity, first the questioner has to send his claim for gratuity in the prescribed form to the Construction Company. If there is no reply or rejection of the claim, he has to file a claim petition with the Controlling Authority under the P.G Act,1972 for the area where he worked last together with a delay condonation application. The C.A would conduct an enquiry and award gratuity with interest, if the claim is maintainable.
Better, he should engage the services of an Advocate right from the beginning.