Gratuity for companies under one roof having same owner.

Dear sir,
It is understood that If the employee is working in company having nos of employees less than 10, then the employee is not applicable for gratuity. But if the same company has sister companies and the employees altogether exceeds 10 nos. of employees having same owner then, whether the gratuity is applicable to the employees who has completed the 5 years of his services in all the sister companies ?
regards
Uday

Colloquially used terms such as "group company", "sister company" to denote commonality of ownership of different business entities have no statutory force nor any legal recognition. Each and every such organization would be a separate legal entity and as such labor laws which have numerical criterion of employees of such an entity for application purpose would be independent of its ownership. Even if such different units engaged in the same business are located under a single roof ( It is the ubiquitous method adopted by textile shops, jewellery shops etc.,), it cannot change its character of independent unit for at times truth is stranger than fiction.
However, the employees of such establishment should prove that their services are invariably used among such different establishments owned by the same individual for circumventing the application of labor laws like P.G Act, EPF Act etc.

If there is financial integrality,transfer of fund from one unit to another, transferring of employees from one unit to other without affecting their service conditions, the labour authorities, EPF authorities etc can club them into one unit for coverage of the Act.