Customary bonus claims survive the Bonus Act, and a fresh industrial dispute is not barred by res judicata.

The Industrial Tribunal had jurisdiction to entertain a bonus dispute referred under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 was held to regulate profit-based bonus and incidental matters, but it did not extinguish independent claims for customary bonus or bonus as a condition of service; the pleadings and reference showed that the claim rested on custom and long-standing service conditions rather than profits. The earlier arbitral award did not operate as res judicata because it concerned a different dispute and a different basis of claim. The preliminary objections failed, and the matter was remitted for adjudication on the merits of the bonus claim.

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Issues: (i) whether the Industrial Tribunal had jurisdiction to entertain the reference; (ii) whether the claim for bonus was confined to profit-based bonus and whether the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 barred a claim for customary bonus or bonus as a condition of service; (iii) whether the earlier arbitral award operated as res judicata.

Issue (i): whether the Industrial Tribunal had jurisdiction to entertain the reference.

Analysis: The reference was made under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and concerned an industrial dispute relating to bonus. The broad jurisdiction of the Tribunal covered the dispute referred, and the objection that the matter was outside its competence was treated as unsustainable.

Conclusion: The Tribunal had jurisdiction to try the dispute.

Issue (ii): whether the claim for bonus was confined to profit-based bonus and whether the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 barred a claim for customary bonus or bonus as a condition of service.

Analysis: The pleadings, the terms of reference, and the employers' own stand showed that the real foundation of the claim was long-standing payment of bonus as custom, usage, or a condition of service, and not a claim tied to profits. The statutory scheme of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 was held to regulate profit-based bonus and matters incidental to it. The Act did not extinguish distinct claims for customary or contractual bonus, and the statutory references to prior payments and saving provisions supported the survival of such claims outside the Act's core field.

Conclusion: The Bonus Act did not bar claims for customary bonus or bonus based on a condition of service.

Issue (iii): whether the earlier arbitral award operated as res judicata.

Analysis: The earlier award had dealt with a different dispute and was concerned with a different basis of claim. The subsequent reference raised a fresh industrial dispute on a different footing. On that footing, the prior award could not bar adjudication of the present reference.

Conclusion: The plea of res judicata failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, the preliminary bars were rejected, and the matter was sent back for adjudication on the merits of the bonus claim.

Ratio Decidendi: The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 is exhaustive only in relation to profit-based bonus and does not impliedly extinguish independent claims for customary or contractual bonus; a fresh industrial dispute on a different cause of action is not barred by res judicata merely because an earlier award on another basis had been made.

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