R.C. Patnaik, J.
1. This is an application by the Orissa State Housing Board against the award passed by the Labour Court under Section 33C(2) of the Industrial Disputes Act directing payment of bonus to the N.M.R. employees working under the Board and quantifying their entitlements in Annexure-2. The award was passed in I.D. Misc. Case No. 67 of 1984.
2. Two contentions were raised before the Labour Court as well as here, namely, the petitioner-Housing Board is not an establishment to which the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 was applicable and secondly, the N.M.R. employees serving under the Board were not entitled to bonus under the provisions of the Act.
3. The first contention has no substance. Admittedly the Board is paying bonus to its other regular employees and is an establishment in public sector as defined in Clause (16) of Section 2 of the Payment of Bonus Act. The next question is if the N.M.R. employees were entitled to bonus under Section 8 of the Act. Section 8 reads as under:
'8. Eligibility for bonus.- Every employee shall be entitled to be paid by his employer in an accounting year, bonus, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, provided he has worked in the establishment for not less than thirty working days in that year'.
The expression 'employee' has been defined in Section 2(13) as under:
'(13) 'employee' means any person (other than an apprentice) employed on a salary or wage not exceeding one thousand and six hundred rupees per mensem in any industry to do any skilled or unskilled manual, supervisory, managerial, administrative, technical or clerical work for hire or reward, whether the terms of the employment be express or implied'.
The definition is in expensive language and does not admit of any restriction as to its scope and amplitude. The person receiving salary and wage not exceeding one thousand and six hundred rupees per mensem in any industry is an employee though he is doing a skilled or unskilled manual, supervisory, managerial, administrative, technical or clerical work. The terms of employment may be express or implied. Admittedly the Board is carrying on an industry andithe opposite parties are receiving wages from the Board. The expression salary or wage has been defined in Section 2(21) as meaning all remuneration (other than remuneration in respect of over time work) capable of being expressed in terms of money payable to an employee in respect of his employment.
4. Having regard to the wide language used in Clauses (13) and (21) of Section 2, we have no hesitation in holding that the N.M.R. employees are employees to whom provisions of sections are applicable and they are entitled to bonus under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965. The decision of the Labour Court is, therefore, unexceptionable and is sustained. In the result, the writ application is dismissed. No costs.
V. Gopalaswamy, J.
5. I agree.