IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.4282 of 2009 Kootta Plachal Ouseph Joseph, son of Late Mr. Ouseph, Proprietor of St. Joseph’s Senior School Shanti Nagar, P.S.- Sitamarhi, P.O.-Sitamarhi Court, District-Sitamarhi. ……..Petitioner Versus 1. The Union Of India through the Secretary, Ministry of Labour, Government of India, New Delhi. 2. Commissioner-Employees Provident Fund Organization, Patna. 3. Assistant Commissioner, Employees Provident Fund Organisation, Muzaffarpur. ……..Respondents ---------------------------------- 02. 05.09.2011 The petitioner has filed the present writ application for quashing the notice dated 09.02.2009 issued by the Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, Muzaffarpur as contained in Annexure-2, by which the notices were issued to the proprietor of M/s St. Joseph Senior School and Principal of St. Joseph Junior School, Shanti Nagar, Sitamarhi under Section 7(a) of the Employees Provident Funds Miscellaneous Provisions Act for their appearance. The respondent disputes that the school of the petitioner does not come within the purview of the Act since the number of employees was less than twenty. Under Section 7(A)(a) of the Employees Provident Fund Miscellaneous Provisions Act it is enumerated that the authorities have the power to decide the dispute, in a case where a dispute arises regarding the applicability of this Act to an establishment. Let the petitioner appear before the appropriate authority as prescribed under the Act within a period of four weeks of the receipt of the order who will decide the dispute regarding the applicability of the act with regard to the petitioner’s school within two months thereafter. With the observations above, the application stands disposed off. Shageer (Dinesh Kumar Singh, J)