Contractual bonus excluded from wages under the unamended Payment of Wages Act, limiting section 15 jurisdiction.

Bonus awarded by an Industrial Court, where it is not payable under the terms of employment, does not fall within the unamended definition of "wages" under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936. The Court construed "wages" as remuneration payable only when the contract of employment, express or implied, is fulfilled, and held that a bonus created by industrial adjudication is not contractual remuneration. On that basis, the Authority under section 15 had no jurisdiction to entertain claims for such bonus.

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Issues: Whether bonus awarded by an Industrial Court, not payable under the terms of employment, falls within the definition of "wages" under the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 so as to confer jurisdiction on the Authority under section 15.

Analysis: The definition of "wages" in section 2(vi) was construed as covering remuneration payable in respect of employment only when the terms of the contract of employment, express or implied, are fulfilled. Bonus in the sense relevant to the case was held to be remuneration only if it was contractually payable as part of employment terms. A bonus awarded independently by an Industrial Court was not payable because the employment contract had been fulfilled, but because of the industrial adjudication itself. The Court applied the earlier Federal Court view that a bonus not payable under a contract of employment does not fall within the unamended definition of "wages".

Conclusion: Such a bonus does not constitute "wages" under the unamended Act, and the Authority under section 15 had no jurisdiction to entertain the claims.

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