law: Payment of Bonus Act, 1965 
  19. Time-limit for payment of bonus 
   20  [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 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.