IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.18366 of 2011 Date of Decision : October 18, 2011. M/s Lakhbir Kaur Rakha Singh .....Petitioner versus The Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal and another .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Mr.Balram Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner. -.- 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) The petitioner is a brick-kiln establishment who is aggrieved by the orders dated 10.11.2004 and 14.6.2011 (Annexures P-2and P-4, respectively) passed by the Prescribed Authority under Section 7-A of the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') and the Appellate Tribunal, respectively. The petitioner urges that the seasonal labours engaged while the petitioner-kiln was in operation left the employment way back and in the absence of their identification, the statutory benefits cannot be released. The other contention raised is that the labours were not engaged on 'regular CWP No.18366 of 2011 [2] basis'. Both these contentions have been dealt with elaborately by the Appellate Tribunal with reference to the definition of 'employee' given in Section 2 (f) of the Act which includes any person employed for wages in any kind of work directly or indirectly for the employment. It also includes a person employed through a contractor. The Tribunal has further held that in view of several judicial precedents, the casual employees also fall within the ambit of Section 2 (f) of the Act (ibid). In this view of the matter, it was obligated upon the petitioner to maintain the records and discharge its statutory obligation and/or prove that the due amount was deposited. The petitioner having failed to do so, no fault can be found with the impugned orders. Dismissed. October 18, 2011 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE