EMPLOYEES STATE INSURANCE CORPORATION Vs. EXECUTIVE ENGINEER P W D BUILDING AND ROADS WORKSHOP JAIPUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE six cases have been referred to a Division Bench by a learned Single Judge of this Court on the ground that there was divergence of judicial opinion about the vires of rule 17 of the Rajasthan Employees' Insurance Court Rules, 1959.

(2.) THE Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, is a Central Act. Under sec. 38 of it all employees in factories or establishments to which the Act applies are to be insured compulsorily in the manner provided by the Act. Contributions are payable in respect of an employee both by the employee and by the employer. Under sec 40 the employer is liable to pay both the contributions in the first instance. Under sub-sec. (2) of sec. 4 the current contributions payable in respect of an employee are recoverable from his current wages. THE employer is required to make payments of these contributions to the Employees' State Insurance Corporation quarterly. In two of these cases the employer namely the Executive Engineer, P. W. D Buildings and Roads Workshop, Jaipur, failed to make payment of the contributions. In respect of the employer's contributions separate proceedings are taking place. Two applications were filed by the Employees' State Insurance Corporation in respect of the employees' contributions THE Employees' Insurance Court at Jaipur disallowed part of the claim made by the Corporation on the ground that it was barred by limitation under rule 17 (1) of the Rajasthan Employees' Insurance Court Rules, 1959. Rule 17 runs as follows - "limitation - (1) Every application to the Court shall be brought within three years from the date on which the course of action arose or as the case may be the claim become due : Provided that the Court may entertain an application after the said period of three years if it satisfied that the applicant had sufficient reasons for not making the application within the said period. (2) Subject as aforesaid the provisions of Part II & III of the Indian Limitation Act, 1908 (IX of 1908), shall be so far as may be apply to every such applications. "

(3.) ANOTHER reason given by some Courts is that fixation of any period of limitation for the Corporation to realise the contributions from the employer may tend to obstruct the affective working of the scheme of insurance. We do not consider that the working of the scheme will be obstructed if a period of limitation for 3 years is prescribed as has been done.