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THE TEMPLES IN KARNATAKA NO MORE BE GOVERNED UNDER THE PAYMENT OF GRATUITY ACT, 1972
The Karnataka High Court clarified that the employees of a temple are not entitled to gratuity as temple does not come under the purview of commercial establishment under the Gratuity Act, 1972. The ruling was passed in accordance with an appeal filed by Kollur’s Mookambika temple in Udupi district regarding the claim of gratuity by a former temple employee.
The three judge bench comprising of Justices BV Nagarathna, KN Phaneendra and BA Patil made the observation that the Gratuity Act is applicable to “establishments” or “commercial establishment” and temples in Karnataka does not fall under the definition of these two. The Karnataka’s Shops and Commercial Establishments also does not treat temples as an “establishment”. Hence, the Act of Payment of Gratuity would not be applicable to Temples.
The court opined, “The definition of establishment is exhaustive and not inclusive, it means a shop or a commercial establishment… it is apparent that, it does not extend to a temple. In other words, a temple is excluded from the definition of commercial establishment, as it is not notified by the State Government and hence, is not included within the latter portion of the definition as of now…
…temple would not come within the expression of commercial establishment. A temple is a religious institution used as a place of public religious worship dedicated to or for the benefit of or used as of right by the Hindu community or any section thereof as a place of public religious worship… the appellant being a temple cannot by any stretch of imagination be construed as an establishment under the provisions of the Act of 1961. No other enactment is brought to our notice which deals with shops and commercial establishment for beneficial consideration.
…a ‘Temple’ as defined in Clause 27 of Section 2 of the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997, does not answer the description of “commercial establishment” within the meaning of Clause(e) of Section 2 of the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 and hence, the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 is inapplicable to it…”
The court overruled the judgment of division bench in Venkataramana Swamy Temple case in which it was held that the application of Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 would extend to temples in Karnataka. The employees of the temples in Karnataka will be governed under the special law of Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1947 and the Rules of 2002.
