Time-limit for payment of bonus.

19. [All amounts] payable to an employee by way of bonus under this Act shall be paid in cash by his employer—

(a) where there is a dispute regarding payment of bonus pending before any authority under section 22, within a month from the date on which the award becomes enforceable or the settlement comes into operation, in respect of such dispute ;

(b) in any other case, 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 his 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.