Karnataka High Court: Temple employees entitled to Gratuity under the Special Law

The High court of Karnataka declared that a temple (defined in Clause (27) of Section 2 of the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997) is not a “commercial establishment” under provisions of the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (KS&CE) Act, 1961 and all employees of a temple are not entitled to receive gratuity under the Payments of Gratuity Act,1972.

Gratuity is the amount of money paid by the employer to the employee for services rendered by her for the company.  Section 1(3) (b) of the Gratuity Act, 1972 provides that it would apply to all establishments employing ten or more persons

Facts of the Case (Shri Mookambika Temple vs. Raviraj Shetty)

After retirement in 2005, Raviraj Shetty (Represented by Advocate T Mohandas Shetty) made a claim for the payment of Gratuity to which he had received favorable ruling from the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner and the Appellate Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. Due to this Shri Mookambika Temple(Represented by Advocate K Anandarama) filed an appeal before the High Court of Karnataka for dismiss of the ruling made by the labour authorities in 2011-12 to pay gratuity of 2.91 lakh with 10% interest under the PG Act,1972.

This plea was denied by a single judge bench with a reference made to a Karnataka High Court Division Bench judgment in Management of Venkataramana Swamy Temple and Sri Hale Mariyamma Temple, Kapu, Udupi District v. Deputy Labour Commissioner. 

The Temple made a another appeal which argued that the Venkataramana Swamy case was decided from an Orissa High Court case of ‘Shree Jagannath Temple,Puri Vs. Jagannath Padhi &other.

To this appeal the Karnataka high court held that this case (Venkataraman Swamy ) was decided on the laws based in the state of Orissa which had a “Temple Trust” in their Shops and Commercial Establishments Act could not be cited as a precedent in the Raviraj Shetty case and it will not be applicable in Karnataka.

On 20th July 2018 this matter was referred to a three-judge full bench of High Court comprising Justices B V Nagarathna (Head), K N Phaneendra and B A Patil gave the verdict on August 1, 2019 on the case of Shri Mookambika Temple Vs. Raviraj Shetty.

Judgment

The court held that the central government has not declared temples as an ‘Establishment’ nor a ‘class of establishment’ and neither the State Government has declared the temple as an establishment under the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961.

It was held that the temple employees are entitled to gratuity under the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Act, 1997 and that this act is a special enactment which prevails over general laws like the Payments of Gratuity (PG) Act, 1972 and the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997 alone will be applicable to Temple Employees under present regime. The bench directed the temple to pay gratuity as per KHRI&CE Act, 1997 to Mr. Shetty within four weeks.

By-

Samaira Nakra

Student Reporter, INBA