The Supreme Court has ruled that gratuity is a statutory right of employees which cannot be denied to them on the ground that they are being given provident fund and pension benefits.<br/><br/>The apex court said no establishment can deny gratuity benefit to an employee as the statutory provision enacted by Parliament cannot be defeated by introduction of any contract or instrument.<br/><br/>A bench of Justices B Sudershan Reddy and R M Lodha said in a judgement that the provisions of the Act prevail over all other enactment or instrument or contract so far as the payment of gratuity is concerned.<br/><br/>The apex court passed the judgement while dismissing the appeal of state-owned Allahabad Bank challenging a decision of the High Court directing the management to grant gratuity benefts to certain retired employees. The bench said the provision of gratuity can be waived by the management only under exceptional circumstances with the prior approval of the government.<br/><br/>The apex court said that such a waiver can be availed of provided the government takes the view that pensionary and other retirement benefits are more favourable than gratuity benefits.