Gratuity - joined an educational institute in 1993 on a part-time basis and no appointment letter was issued

Sir, Kindly solve my problem. I joined an educational institute in 1993 ( on a part-time basis and no appointment letter was issued) and continued till 2003 ( without any break ) and I was getting a salary accordingly. In 2003 I joined on a regular and worked till March 2022. I am 71 years old. My DOB is 09.11.50. Institute is calculating Gratuity from 2003 to 2015 considering my age of 65 years. According to them, I am not entitled to gratuity for 1993 to 2003 & 2015 to 2022.
Kindly advise.
Thanks & regards
Vijay Jain

This is incorrect from the perspective of the Payment of Gratuity Act 1972, provided there is continuous service from 1993. First of all, there is no age bar as per the Act. Also, there is no distinction between regular service and temporary service. Hope you have some documents like pay slip etc to prove your service period from 1993 to 2003.
You can submit your claim for the unpaid period of gratuity before the Controlling Authority and you will get paid with interest.

Basically what all institutions are doing a copycat of is by marking people off as consultants instead of employees and extracting full time jobs from them like regular employees. A majority of the lawyers I found are dumb enough to say that it is a good enough loophole to bypass giving statutory benefits.

Dear Sir. You can file an application before the Controlling Authority of your area. i.e. Assistant Labour Commissioner of your area or where your educational institute is located for claiming the gratuity from the date of first appointment If you are able to produce some documentary evidence like I D Card, Bank pass book if salary is deposited in Bank from the date of joining etc. for the period after 2003 till 2022 also they can pay the gratuity without any legal problem because you have work continuously. If you have taken Rs. 20 Lakhs as a gratuity from the same employer, then there is no point in making application as you have been paid the maximum admissible gratuity. Pl ascertain your documentary evidence and file application, if you have received less amount of gratuity.