HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF ANDHRA PRADESH THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE SANJAY KUMAR WRIT PETITION NO. 19244 OF 2010 Friday, the Sixth day of August, Two Thousand and Ten Between B.Murali and others Petitioners AND The A.P.S.R.T.C., Rep. By its Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Musheerabad, Hyderabad and others Respondents ORAL ORDER: The grievance of the petitioners is that the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) was attempting to recover employer and employee contributions under the Employees Provident Fund & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 in respect of the drivers employed by the petitioners in the buses given on hire to the APSRTC and in deducting the said amounts from the hire charge bills payable to the petitioners. The proceedings dated 26.4.2010 of the APSRTC and the order dated 5.3.2007 passed by the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Barkatpura, Hyderabad, in this regard, are impugned. It is stated by the learned counsel for the petitioners that the matter is squarely covered by the order dated 9.7.2010 passed by a learned Judge of this court in W.P.No. 16153 of 2010. The learned Standing Counsel for the APSRTC fairly concedes so. A copy of the said order is placed on record and reflects that the learned Judge followed an earlier judgment of this court dated 21.6.2010 in W.P. No.11791 of 2010 and Batch. The relevant portion of the said judgment, which was extracted by the learned Judge may be referred to: “10. Be that as it may, most of the petitioners have received individual notices as on this day where under they are called upon to submit their explanation as to why P.F. contributions cannot be deducted from the hire charges. It is the contention of the petitioners that they have not engaged more than 20 persons to come within the purview of the EPF & MP Act, 1952. After considering the explanations, the APSRTC is at liberty to pass appropriate orders. Till the explanations offered by the petitioners are considered, no amount shall be deducted from the hire charges towards EPF contributions etc. Any instructions issued to the Depot Managers deducting the PF contributions from the hire charges shall remain suspended pending enquiry. Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners submits that some of the petitioners have not yet submitted their individual explanations after receipt of such notices and therefore time may be extended to enable them to submit their explanations. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, time is extended by thirty days to the petitioners who have not submitted their explanations as on this day.” In terms of the above stated observations, this writ petition is disposed of with similar directions, as extracted above. No costs. __________________ Justice Sanjay Kumar August 6, 2010 Copy by 10.8.2010 //BO// MAS