Industrial profit bonus counts as remuneration in profit-sharing form, and an express banking prohibition overrides general industrial award powers.

Item 5 of Schedule II to the 5 January 1952 notification was construed as covering the general question of bonus, including eligibility and mode of payment, not individual claims for particular years against particular banks; practical difficulties in deciding such claims could not enlarge the reference, so those individual claims were not left pending for another tribunal. Section 10 of the Banking Companies Act 1949 was read broadly to treat industrial profit bonus as remuneration in the form of a share in profits, and that express prohibition prevailed over the general saving provision. The 1956 amendment was held remedial, not declaratory, and did not operate retrospectively for the period in dispute.

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Issues: (i) whether item 5 of Schedule II of the notification dated 5 January 1952 covered claims for bonus for particular years in respect of particular banks; (ii) whether section 10 of the Banking Companies Act, 1949 prohibited the grant of industrial bonus to bank employees and whether the 1956 amendment altered the position retrospectively.

Issue (i): whether item 5 of Schedule II of the notification dated 5 January 1952 covered claims for bonus for particular years in respect of particular banks

Analysis: The item was construed in the context of the language used, the background of the earlier reference, and the manner in which the Central Government framed the later reference. The expression was treated as referring to the general question of bonus, including eligibility and method of payment, rather than to individual claims for particular years against particular banks. Practical difficulty in adjudicating individual claims without evidence could not enlarge the scope of the reference.

Conclusion: The reference did not include individual claims for bonus for particular years in respect of particular banks, and that question was not left pending for decision by another tribunal.

Issue (ii): whether section 10 of the Banking Companies Act, 1949 prohibited the grant of industrial bonus to bank employees and whether the 1956 amendment altered the position retrospectively

Analysis: The expressions "remuneration" and "takes the form of a share in the profits" were read in their natural and wide sense. Industrial profit bonus was treated as labour's share in the profits of the undertaking and therefore as remuneration taking the form of a share in profits. The saving provision in section 2 could not override an express prohibition in section 10. The 1956 amendment was treated as remedial and not declaratory, and it was held not to operate retrospectively for the period in dispute.

Conclusion: Section 10, as it stood before the 1956 amendment, prohibited the award of industrial bonus to bank employees.

Final Conclusion: The appeals succeeded only to the extent that the reference was held not to cover unresolved individual bonus claims, and the unamended banking law was held to bar industrial bonus for the relevant past period.

Ratio Decidendi: Industrial profit bonus is remuneration that takes the form of a share in the profits of a banking company, and an express statutory prohibition against such remuneration prevails over the general award-making power under industrial law.

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