In Brief
A private technical institute appealed against an order requiring it to pay gratuity to a retired assistant professor. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding that teachers employed in educational institutions are entitled to gratuity under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972. The Court noted that Parliament's amendment to the Act in 2009, effective retroactively from 1997, explicitly brought teachers within the definition of 'employee'. This amendment reversed an earlier Supreme Court decision excluding teachers, and the prior case law no longer applies. The respondent professor was entitled to the gratuity payment awarded by the lower authorities.">
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