Amendment to Gratuity Act stayed

BANGALORE: The High Court on Friday stayed the amendment to the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, following a petition filed by the educational institutes in the state saying that they would be financially doomed if the amendment to the Act was made effective. The amended Act bringing teachers into its ambit was made effective in December 2010.The institutes said that the amendment, which instead of applying from that day onwards, was made retrospective from April 3, 1997.Stating that it was a violation of Constitutional rights, the institutes contended that the Parliament did not have powers to make a retrospective amendment to any law which affects rights of citizens.“As such, once the Supreme Court ruled that the definition of an employee in the Act did not cover a teacher, the Parliament certainly had the power to amend the definition of the employee provided such amendment acted prospectively only,” they argued adding that as such, even on that count, the amendment was bad.The presented that nearly 3 per cent of the population comprises teachers, educational institutions would become bankrupt if teachers who served in the past decade asked for gratuity because the Parliament made a retrospective amendment.