MESSERS BATA INDIA LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is aggrieved by order dated 3.8.2016 passed under section 7A of the EPF and Miscellaneous Provisions Act of 1952. The brief facts relevant for the case are that between the year January 2006 to March 2007 M/s Bata India Limited outsourced some of the portions on the work to complete their products to certain associates.

(2.) Such work outsourced, inter alia involved, attaching of soles, stitching, making holes etc., in the footwear products manufactured by them. The associates were paid an agreed amount.

(3.) A notice dated 06.07.2007 under Section 7A of the EPF and MP Act was issued for the first time to the petitioner inter alia claiming a sum of Rs. 5.63 crores and the petitioner was asked to show-cause as to why the same should not be finally assessed as the amount due and payable by them. The squad report relevant to such prima facie assumption based on which the show cause was not admittedly sent or supplied to the petitioner.