Time limit for payment of bonus

(1) All amounts payable to an employee by way of bonus under this Code shall be paid by crediting it in the bank account of the employee by his employer within a period of eight months from the close of the accounting year: Provided that the appropriate Government or such authority as the appropriate Government may specify in this behalf may, upon an application made to it by the employer and for sufficient reasons, by order, extend the said period of eight months to such further period or periods as it thinks fit; so, however, that the total period so extended shall not in any case exceed two years. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where there is a dispute regarding payment of bonus pending before any authority, such bonus shall be paid, within a period of one month from the date on which the award becomes enforceable or the settlement comes into operation, in respect of such dispute: Provided that if, there is a dispute for payment at the higher rate, the employer shall pay eight and one-third per cent. of the wages earned by the employee as per the provisions of this Code within a period of eight months from the close of the accounting year.