(1) With effect from such date as may be notified by the appropriate Government in this behalf, every employer, other than an employer or an establishment belonging to, or under the control of, the Central Government or a State Government, shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (2), obtain an insurance in the manner prescribed by the Central Government, for his liability for payment towards the gratuity under this Chapter, from any insurance company regulated by the Authority as defined under clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (41 of 1999):
Provided that different dates may be appointed for different establishments or class of establishments or for different areas.
(2) The appropriate Government may, subject to such conditions as may be prescribed by the Central Government, exempt any employer who had already established an approved gratuity fund in respect of his employees and who desires to continue such arrangement, and every employer employing five hundred or more persons who establishes an approved gratuity fund in the manner prescribed by the Central Government from the provisions of sub-section (1).
(3) For the purposes of effectively implementing the provisions of this section, every employer shall within such time as may be prescribed by the Central Government get his establishment registered with the competent authority in the manner prescribed by the appropriate Government and no employer shall be registered under the provisions of this section unless he has taken an insurance referred to in sub-section (1) or has established an approved gratuity fund referred to in sub-section (2).
(4) The appropriate Government may provide for the composition of the Board of Trustees of the approved gratuity fund and for the recovery by the competent authority of the amount of the gratuity payable to an employee from the insurer with whom an insurance has been taken under sub-section (1), or as the case may be, the Board of Trustees of the approved gratuity fund, in such manner as may be prescribed.
(5) Where an employer fails to make any payment by way of premium in respect of the insurance referred to in sub-section (1) or by way of contribution to an approved gratuity fund referred to in sub-section (2), he shall be liable to pay the amount of gratuity due under this Chapter (including interest, if any, for delayed payments) forthwith to the competent authority.
Explanation.--- In this section, "approved gratuity fund" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in sub-section (5) of section 2 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961).