Page 151 - DCOM207_LABOUR_LAWS

Labour Laws

Notes case as confined to profit-bonus, leaving room for non-statutory play of customary bonus.
That case relates to profit bonus under the Industrial Disputes Act.
The major inarticulate premise of the statute is that it deals with-and only with-profit-
based bonus. There is no categorical provision in the Bonus Act nullifying all other kinds
of bonus, nor does such a conclusion arise by necessary implication. The core question
about the policy of the Parliament that was agitated in that case turned on the availability
of the Industrial Disputes Act as an independent method of claiming profit bonus de hors
the Bonus Act and the Court took the view that it would be subversive of the scheme of the
Act to allow an invasion from the flank in that manner. A discerning and concrete analysis
of the scheme of the Act and the reasoning of the Court leaves no doubt that the Act leaves
untouched customary bonus.

Source: http://indiankanoon.org/doc/191016/

Self Assessment

State whether the following statements are true or false:
1. The Act is enforced through the Central Industrial Relations Machinery (CIRM).
2. During the 2nd World War, bonus again became a live issue when industries started
making extra-ordinary losses.
3. All amounts payable to an employee by way of bonus under this Act shall be paid in cash
by his employer within a month from the date on which the award become enforceable
or the settlement comes into operation, in respect of any dispute regarding payment of
bonus.
9.2 Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

Accounting Year

“Accounting Year” means-
(i) in relation to a corporation, the year ending on the day on which the books and accounts of
the corporation are to be closed and balanced;

(ii) in relation to a company, the period in respect of which any profit and loss account of the
company laid before it in annual general meeting is made up, whether that period is a year
or not;

(iii) in any other case-
(a) the year commencing on the 1st day of April; or
(b) if the accounts of an establishment maintained by the employer thereof are closed
and balanced on any day other than the 31st day of March, then, at the option of
the employer, the year ending on the day on which its accounts are so closed and
balanced:
Provided that an option once exercised by the employer under paragraph (b) of this sub-clause
shall not again be exercised except with the previous permission in writing of the prescribed
authority and upon such conditions as that authority may think fit.

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