Tripura High Court
Swapan Kr. Debnath vs The State Of Tripura And Ors on 5 April, 2018
Author: Ajay Rastogi
Bench: Ajay Rastogi
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HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA
AGARTALA
WP(C) No.1633/2017
Swapan Kr. Debnath
---- Petitioner(s).
Versus
The State of Tripura and Ors.
---- Respondent(s).
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Arijit Bhowmik, Advocate, Mr. Santanu Ghosh, Advocate.
For Respondent(s) : Mrs. S Deb(Gupta), Advocate.
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. AJAY RASTOGI Order 05/4/2018 The only grievance of the petitioner who is serving in Tripura Road Transport Corporation is that the yearly bonus to which he is entitled for under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 as amended vide Payment of Bonus Act(Amended),2015 from the year 2014-2015 onwards has not been paid to him and there is no justification to withhold, at the same time, a right conferred under law to claim bonus under the Act of 1965 cannot be defeated for extraneous reasons.
2. Counter-affidavit has been filed by the respondents and it has been admitted that the petitioner is entitled for bonus and few employees, who are 20 in number, earlier approached this court in WP(C) No.173/2017 and bonus has been paid to each of them but as the Corporation is running into financial hardship and completely dependent upon the Transport Department, Page - 2 of 4 Government of Tripura, even for the regular wages/salary of the employees, is the only reason forthcoming of the Corporation showing its inability to pay the bonus. Indisputably, the entitlement of the petitioner for payment of bonus has not been disputed by the respondents.
3. I consider it appropriate to quote para 4 of the counter- affidavit filed by the Corporation which reads as follows:
"4. That, in references to the contentions/ averments/ claim of the petitioners made in para 1 and paras 6 to 12, the stand/views of the TRTC, sans unnecessary details are stated below :
(i) Upto financial year 2013-2014, vide order No.F.(127)-TRTC/Estt./Bonus/99/1445, dated 11-
09-2004, the TRTC paid bonus to its employees @ Rs.3,500/- per year to those employees, who got maximum salary up to Rs.10,000/- per month.
(ii) On direction of Hon'ble High court of Tripura in WP(C) No.173 of 2017 titled Shyamal Kr. Das & others Vs. the State of Tripura & others paid enhanced bonus to 20(twenty) employees, but, as the TRTC is now running financial hardship, being losing concern, dependent on the Transport Department, Govt. of Tripura even for wages/salary of its employees, is not in a position to pay bonus."
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4. In light of the statement made in page 4 of the counter- affidavit filed by the respondent-Corporation about the entitlement for payment of bonus has not been disputed. At the same time, the reason assigned by the respondent-Corporation has no nexus or a justification to withhold the statutory right of employee for payment of bonus under the mandate of the Act, 1965.
5. The justification tendered by the respondent about their financial hardship and dependency on the Transport Department, Government of Tripura is their internal arrangement to mutually resolve and the employee has no role to play and his entitlement and payment of bonus cannot remain dependent upon the inability of the respondent Corporation which is a statutory authority created under the Act and is under obligation to release/pay bonus to each & every employee in time in accordance with law.
6. Consequently, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondent to release the payment of bonus to the petitioner and to such other similarly situated employees who are serving in the Corporation in accordance with the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 as amended vide Payment of Bonus Act(Amended),2015 from the year 2014-2015 onwards within a period of three months from today. If any employee remains deprived from the payment of bonus can file Misc. application in the instant writ petition for taking action against Page - 4 of 4 the Corporation for fulfillment of its responsibility conferred under the Act 1965 and there is no need of filing separate writ petition.
CHIEF JUSTICE Certificate :- All corrections made in the judgment/order have been incorporated in the judgment/order. Sukhendu