Dear Lourdhu,
The Payment of Gratuity Act,1972 is the complete Code on the subject matter of gratuity. Once the establishment comes within the purview of the Act, the process of payment of gratuity is to be done according to the provisions of the Act only.
At the same time section 4(5) of the Act permits better terms of gratuity as per any award or agreement. Without adhering to the minimum qualifying service of not less than 5 years of continuous service as per section 4(1) of the Act, paying gratuity to fixed term contract employees proportionate to the actual length of completed years of continuous service rendered is a statutory concession granted under the existing Standing Orders Rules,1946 as well as u/s 53(1) of the yet to be enforced Code on Social Security,2020 is to be necessarily read together only so as to contradistinguish the legal status of CTC which is not more than a statement of projection of the overall annual cost per employee from the employer's perspective.
Therefore, no necessity to pay gratuity to an employee who leaves the establishment without completing the statutory minimum qualifying service just because CTC mentions the head of gratuity expense.