RASTRADOOT Vs. UNION OF INDIA UOI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition was filed for a review of the order passed by this Court on December 17, 1996, in S. B. Civil Writ Petition No. 1053a/1994 Rastradoot, Jaipur v. Union of India and Anr. whereby the writ petition preferred by the petitioner Rastradoot Jaipur was dismissed holding therein that the Employees' Provident and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (the Act of 1952 for short) was not (sic ?) applicable on the petitioner-organisation which is a newspaper establishment having a printing press. The petitioner had further challenged the levy of penalty on delayed payment of the provident tuna contribution by the employer with the R. P. F. Commissioner.

(2.) AFTER considering several authorities mentioned in the impugned order, the objection of the petitioner that the aforesaid Act is not applicable on the petitioner-newspaper, was rejected in view of the ratio of the Apex Court judgment delivered in the matter of Organo Chemical Industry and Anr. v. Union of India and Ors. reported in AIR 1979 SC 1803 : 1979 (4) SCC 573 : 1979-II-LLJ-416 wherein it has been held that the power conferred under Section 14-B of the Act of 1952 to levy damages on employers defaulting in payment of contribution towards the provident fund was not arbitrary or unguided and hence the provisions regarding levy of penalty was not held to be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) HENCE, it was held that the Employees' Provident Funds Act of 1952 was applicable and the penalty also could be imposed on the employer in case the amount was not deposited within the time prescribed. The levy of penalty therefore to the extent of Rs. 85,115 was treated as justified and hence the petitioner was directed to deposit the entire amount by way of penalty except 25 per cent of that amount which he had already deposited.