In Brief
This judgment concerns whether special allowances paid by establishments to their employees should be included in "basic wages" for Provident Fund deduction purposes under the Employees' Provident Fund Act, 1952. The Supreme Court held that the crucial test is universality: allowances paid across the board to all employees in a category constitute basic wages subject to Provident Fund deduction, regardless of nomenclature. Variable or incentive-linked payments available only to some employees are excluded. The establishment bears the onus of proving variability or incentive linkage. Civil Appeal No. 6221 of 2011 (Regional RPFC v. Vivekananda Vidyamandir) was allowed; the other four appeals by establishments were dismissed."
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