Union of India Etc. vs. The United Planters Association of Southern India Etc. Etc.
Background
The Payment of Bonus (Amendment) Act, 2015 raised the salary limit for coverage under the Payment of Bonus Act and changed how bonus is calculated, with retrospective effect from 2014. More than 140 writ petitions challenging the validity of these amendments were filed across roughly 18 High Courts, with some High Courts granting differing interim reliefs. The Union of India sought to have all these writ petitions transferred to the Supreme Court to avoid the risk of conflicting decisions from different High Courts.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court declined to transfer the writ petitions either to itself or to a single High Court. It reasoned that because the bonus calculation is linked to state-specific minimum wage notifications, the issues involved genuinely vary from state to state, so it made more sense for each jurisdictional High Court to decide the matter with reference to its own facts and applicable state notifications. The Court also noted that the mere possibility of divergent views among High Courts is not, by itself, sufficient ground for transfer, relying on its own recent precedent declining a similar transfer request. All the interim stay orders passed by the respective High Courts were vacated, and the parties were left free to seek expeditious hearings in their own High Courts.
Lesson Learnt
The Supreme Court will not automatically centralize litigation raising a common legal question merely because many courts are hearing similar cases; if the underlying facts (such as state-specific rules) genuinely differ, it is often better for cases to be decided locally by the jurisdictional courts, preserving each litigant's normal right of appeal.