Principal Employer Not Liable To Pay Gratuity To Contractual Workmen; Controlling Authority…

Who it concerns: Appellant: M/s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd; Respondents: Various individual workers (e.g., Suryakand D. Lad, Subramaniam S. Arjun, Ramanathan A. Yogishwaran, Mohd. Hanif Ismail Hakam) and contractors (e.g., M/s Noble Enterprises, M/s G.B. Mhatre, M/s A.R. Naim and Sons); Bench: Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Manmohan.

What the court decided

• The Court held that the Controlling Authority lacked jurisdiction to decide the liability of the principal employer to pay gratuity, as its power was limited to computing the amount payable to an 'employee'.
• The Court agreed with the Solicitor General that no employer-employee relationship existed between ONGC and the contractual workers.
• The High Court's order fastening liability on ONGC was set aside.
• The order of the Appellate Authority (which had favored ONGC) was revived.
• The Court directed that no recovery of the gratuity amount already paid by ONGC (under a previous order dated 15.12.2023) shall be made from the workers.
• The appeals were disposed of.

Also in the document

• The Court noted that the gratuity amount had already been paid to the workers by ONGC pursuant to a previous Supreme Court order dated 15.12.2023.
• The Court explicitly stated that no recovery would be made from the workers for the amounts already paid.
• The Court disposed of the appeals on the specific point that the Controlling Authority was not competent to adjudicate the dispute regarding liability.