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21. As already pointed out, Rules 26 to 29 of The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, are the rules, which provides for payment of gratuity. Therefore, on a reading of the expression "employee", it falls within the definition of employee employed in the temples, the provisions of The Payment of Gratuity Act will have no application. When the employees of the temple are governed by the statutory rules providing for payment of gratuity, they will not fall under the exclusive definition employee as defined under Section 2 (e). There is no dispute that the employees of the temple are governed by the sub-rules framed under The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act.

22. Construing the expression "employee" in Section 2 (e), at the first instance it appears as if it applies to the Central Government or a State Government employee governed by any other Act and not to employees employed in a temple. The expression "such person who holds a post in the Central Government of State Government and is governed by any other Act or by any rules providing for payment of gratuity has to be given its full meaning and the said provision has to be read as a whole. So far as the employees of the Central and State Governments are concerned, they are governed by the provisions of the rules framed under Article 309 of The Constitution. The definition clause will exclude not only the State and Central Government employees or such other employees, who are governed by any other enactment or by any rules providing for payment of gratuity.

23. The expression Central/State Governments, which precedes the words "governed by any other Act" cannot be confined to the latter portion, namely, rules providing for payment of gratuity alone and the definition clause excludes all employees, who are governed by the provisions of any other Act or rules providing for payment of gratuity. Any other interpretation will defeat the provisions of the Act.

24. The employer has been defined under Section 2 (f) of The Payment of Gratuity Act. The definition of employer also as defined under The Payment of Gratuity Act will not take in the employment governed by the provisions of the said enactment, namely, The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act or Rules made thereunder. Therefore, on a conjoint reading of the provisions of the Payment of Gratuity Act in respect of employees whose employer is a temple governed by the provisions of The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act, the provisions namely, Rules 26 to 30 of the rules, which alone will apply and not the provisions of The Payment of Gratuity Act. Even in terms of Article 254 (2), insofar as the provisions of The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act has been reserved for the consideration of the President and has received the assent of the President, being an existing law, as it was in force prior to the commencement of The Payment of Gratuity Act, the rules under the Act providing for payment of gratuity alone prevails and not the later enactment. The principle of implied repeal also will not apply and there could be no repeal by implication unless inconsistency appears on the face of statutory provisions.

29. This Court is of the considered view on a comparison of The Payment of Gratuity Act and Rules 26 to 29 of The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious Institutions (Officers & Servants) Service Rules, there is no inconsistency, much less inconsistency of such a nature as to bring the two provisions in direct collusion with each other, and it is not as if a situation has reached, where it is impossible to obey the one without disobeying the other. There is no quarrel that Rules 26 to 29 of Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious Institutions (Officers & Servants) Service Rules had provided for payment of gratuity at a particular rate and being a special provision in respect of temple servants and that such institutions or temples are not being establishments, the earlier rule introduced by the State Legislature is not only laudable, but also govern the situation and prevails.