WP/4503/2010 : 1 : vss IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO.4503 OF 2010 Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. ... Petitioner V/s. Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Nashik ... Respondent Mr.P.K. Rele i/b Piyush shah for Petitioner Mr.Suresh Kumar for Respondent CORAM: SMT.NISHITA MHATRE, J. DATED: DECEMBER 8, 2010 P.C.: 1. The petitioner has approached this Court against the order passed by the Provident Fund authorities u/s 7A of the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act on 7.2.2005 and the order passed by the appellate Tribunal on 9.4.2010 in Appeal No.ATA No.182(9) 2005. 2. An enquiry u/s 7A was conducted by the respondents in respect of provident fund payable for the contract workers employed by the petitioner. This resulted in a decision by the authorities that the petitioner was liable to pay provident fund dues to the tune of about Rs.86 lakhs. The Assistant Commissioner, who conducted the enquiry u/s 7A, held that the provident fund contributions were liable to be paid by the petitioner on the TDS in respect of the payments made to their contractors. It was further held that the petitioner was liable to pay contributions even in respect of the WP/4503/2010 : 2 : workers whose contributions have been paid by the contractors who had employed them. Aggrieved by the decision of the Assistant Commissioner the petitioner preferred an appeal before the appellate tribunal. The Tribunal has, without considering the contentions raised on behalf of the the petitioner in the appeal, dismissed the same. A bare perusal of the order of the Tribunal indicates total non- application of mind on his part. None of the contentions raised by the petitioner have been even alluded to by the Tribunal. Instead the Presiding Officer has dealt with issues which are not germane to the appeal which was before him. 3. Considering the submissions of the learned Counsel for the parties, in my opinion, both the orders passed by the Tribunal as well as the order passed by the Assistant Commissioner u/s 7A deserve to be set aside. Accordingly, the following order is passed: i) The impugned order passed by the Assistant Commissioner dated 7.2.2005 u/s 7A and the order dated 9.4.2010 passed by the Appellate Tribunal are set aside. ii) The petitioner will appear before the Assistant Commissioner who will conduct a fresh enquiry u/s 7A of the Act. Since the union representing the workers was the complainant in this case it will be issued notice of the proceedings u/s 7A so that it can appear before the Assistant Commissioner. iii) The Petitioner and the Union will be intimated the date on which to WP/4503/2010 : 3 : appear before the authority conducting the enquiry u/s 7A well in advance. iv) The petitioner has already deposited Rs.21,55,131/- when the appeal before the appellate Tribunal was admitted. That amount has been transferred to the Provident Fund authorities. An amount of Rs.30 lakhs has been deposited here when notice was issued. The provident fund authorities shall retain the aforesaid amount of Rs.21,55,131/- during the pendency of the enquiry u/s 7A. The petitioner is entitled to withdraw the amount of Rs.20 lakhs out of the amount which it has deposited in this Court immediately. The remaining Rs.10 lakhs may be paid over to the provident fund authorities by the Registry if such an application is made by the Respondent. v) The enquiry u/s 7A of the Act shall be conducted within 12 weeks from today. 4. Writ petition is disposed of in the above terms.