The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that gratuity is a property within the meaning of Article 300-A of the Constitution of India and as such, it is a constitutional right which cannot be taken away except by the authority of law. A bench comprising Justice Sanjay K Agrawal and Justice Pritinker Diwaker made this observation while hearing a writ appeal preferred by a person superannuated from a public sector firm. His amount of gratuity was not paid by the government for the reason that the appellant did not obtain ‘no dues’ certificate and he did not vacate the allocated official quarters. His writ petition was dismissed by the single bench. The appellant contended that gratuity is a right accrued to an employee and the employer is obliged to make payment of gratuity within 30 days from the date it becomes due to the employee. If the employer fails to pay gratuity with statutory limit of 30 days, then he will have to pay interest along with the amount due to employee. But th...