Dismissed¶¶22

Desh Bhagat Polytechnic College and Anr. v. Sarabjit Singh and Anr.

Punjab & Haryana HC12 May 2025CWP/13320/2025

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Gratuity — Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 — Academic Grade Pay held to be part of Basic Pay, not an allowance, for gratuity computation — employer's writ petitions dismissed — Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh — Harsimran Singh Sethi, J. (Oral) — decided 12-05-2025 — CWP-13320-2025 and CWP-13322-2025 — Desh Bhagat Polytechnic College and Anr v. Sarabjit Singh and Anr / Manmohan Singh and Anr — impugned order dated 29.03.2023 (Annexure P-5) — counsel: Shubham Bhardwaj and Varda for petitioners.

What did the court decide?

Once the Academic Grade Pay is given to all employees as a part of the post, it is to be treated as a part of the Basic Pay so as to calculate the entitlement under the 1972 Act. ¶¶19

Desh Bhagat Polytechnic College and Anr. Vs Sarabjit Singh and Anr. — Punjab & Haryana HC (2025) — LawSathi Research

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110+111

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

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Date of Decision : 12-05-2025

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1. CWP-13320-2025

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DESH BHAGAT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE AND ANR ........Petitioner(s) VERSUS

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SARABJIT SINGH AND ANR

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........Respondent(s)

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2. CWP-13322-2025

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DESH BHAGAT POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE AND ANR ........Petitioner(s) VERSUS MANMOHAN SINGH AND ANR ........Respondent(s) CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARSIMRAN SINGH SETHI

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Present: Mr. Shubham Bhardwaj, Ad v ocate with Ms. Varda, Advocate for the petitioners.

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HARSIMRAN SINGH SETHI, J. (Oral)

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Present set of two writ peti t ions involve common questio n of law in th e context of common set of facts and thus they are being decide d by a commo n order.

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In the present set of petition s , the challenge is to the order d a ted 29.03.20 2 3, copy of which has been appe n ded as Annexure P-5 by which the authorities exercising jurisdiction under t he Payment of Gratuity Act, 1 9 72 (for short 1972 Act) have taken into acco u nt the Academic Grade Pay for the purpose f or calculating the benefit of G ratuity admissible to respon d ent employe e which act on the part of the sai d authorities is wrong and arbitr a ry.

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SAPNA GOYAL 2025.05.13 16:08 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document

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-2-

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CWP-13320-2025 and other connected case

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Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that while calculating the entitlement admissible to the respondent-employee, not only the Basic Pay but even the Academic Grade Pay given has been taken into account.

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Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the Academic Grade Pay could not have been taken into account for the purpose of calculating benefit of gratuity admissible to respondent-employee.

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It should be noted that once, the Academic Grade pay is given to all the employees as a part of the post, the same is to be treated as a part of the Basic Pay so as to calculate the entitlement under the 1972 Act. The Academic Grade Pay is not an allowance but an entitlement of the employee working against a particular post. The allowances have not been included but as, the Academic Grade Pay is not the allowance but an entitlement, the inclusion of the same for calculation of the benefit of gratuity admissible to respondent-employee, cannot be treated as arbitrary or illegal.

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