M.Venugopalan v. Union Of India

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

DATED: 25.09.2023

CORAM:

THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. VAIDYANATHAN and THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. RAJASEKAR & W.M.P. No. 543 of 2019 M. Venugopalan S. Chakkarappan A.R. Mani E. Srinivasan 5.

M. Mohamed Iqbal 6.

E. Vajiravelu 7.

K. Anbalagan 8.

M.B. Natarajan 9.

K. Sampath 10.

K. Venkatramani 11.

A. Vetrivel 12.

K. Nithyakalyani 13.

R. Manoharan 14.

V. Sudharsanam 15.

G. Kumaravelu 16.

M. Mohan 17.

K.S. Ekambaram 18.

G. Sampath 19.

M. Perumal 20.

T.V. Mohanan 21.

K. Kandasamy 22.

G. Muniappan 23.

K. Samynathan 24.

G. Mani 25.

M. Laxmi 26.

M. Paramasivam 1/6

27.

S. Kulasekaran 28.

M. Hariharappan 29.

C. Umapathy 30.

H. Srinivasan 31.

S.M. Somanathan 32.

T.K. Kumaresan 33.

M.K. Srinivasan 34.

P. Murugesan 35.

D. Thanigaiarasu 36.

N.K. Padmanaban 37.

N.P. Palani 38.

K. Arumugam 39.

K.V. Elavazhagan 40.

T. Sampath 41.

A Vedagiri 42.

P. Sundaramurthy ..Petitioners Vs.

Union of India represented by its Secretary to Government of India Ministry of Labour & Employment New Delhi 110 001 The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Opp Swagat Hotel, Royapetteh High Road, Chennai, Tamil Nadu - 600 014.

The Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, (Pension), Employees' Provident Fund Organization, Regional Office, S.1, TNHB, Phase- III, Sathuvachari, Vellore - 632 009.

Kancheepuram Central Cooperative Bank Limited, rep. by its General Manager, Kancheepuram ..Respondents Prayer:

Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issue of a Writ of Mandamus directing respondents 1 to 3 herein to accept the 2/6

return and remittance of the amounts being the difference between contribution on ceiling limit and contribution on actual wages disbursed to and withdrawn by the petitiones at the time of their retirement by superannuation without insisting on any payment of interest thereon and to pay the full pension based on their employer's contribution on actual wages remitted by employer of the petitioner with arrears and prospective payments in the light of the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 04.10.2016 in the case of R.C.Gupta and others V. Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, The Employees Provident Fund Organisation and others.

For Petitioners ::

Mr.P.K. Rajagopal For Respondents ::

Mr.R. Subramanian, Addl. Central Govt. Standing Counsel for R1 Mr.R. Vishnu for R2 & R3 Mr.R. Nandhini for Mr. R. Gopinath for R4

O R D E R

(Made by S. Vaidyanathan,J.) This writ petition is filed for issue of a Writ of Mandamus directing respondents 1 to 3 herein to accept the return and remittance of the amounts being the difference between contribution on ceiling limit and contribution on actual wages disbursed to and withdrawn by the petitioners at the time of their retirement by superannuation without insisting on any payment of interest thereon and to pay 3/6

the full pension based on their employer's contribution on actual wages remitted by employer of the petitioner with arrears and prospective payments in the light of the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 04.10.2016 in the case of R.C.Gupta and others V. Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, The Employees Provident Fund Organisation and others.

Today, when this matter was taken up for hearing, Mr. Vishnu, learned Standing Counsel for respondents 2 & 3/EPFO submitted that the issue involved in this writ petition is covered by the order passed by a Coordinate Bench of this Court in P. Chandrasekaran v Union of India & 4 others1, in which, one of us (SVNJ) was a member, which was rendered following the 3 Judge Bench judgment of the Supreme Court in The EPFO and another v Sunil Kumar B. and others, etc.2.

However, according to Mr. Vishnu, paragraph 4 of the order passed by this Court in P. Chandrasekaran, supra, which reads as under, cannot survive any more, in view of the fact that the time granted by the Supreme Court in Sunil Kumar B., supra, had already expired on 11.07.2023: "4.

If the employees could not access the site, they shall take a screenshot and enclose the same with the hard copy to enable the Employees (sic) Provident Fund Organisation to process their option forms." The submission made by Mr. Vishnu in paragraph 3, supra, is recorded and W.P. Nos.20160 of 2019 etc. batch decided on 27.06.2023 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 912 4/6

in view of the submission made by him in paragraph 2, supra, this writ petition also is disposed of on the same terms in which P. Chandrasekaran, supra, was disposed of. No costs. Connected C.M.P. is closed. (S.V.N., J.) (K.R.S., J.) 25.09.2023 nv To The Secretary to Government of India Ministry of Labour & Employment New Delhi 110 001 The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Opp Swagat Hotel, Royapetteh High Road, Chennai, Tamil Nadu - 600 014.

The Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, (Pension), Employees' Provident Fund Organization, Regional Office, S.1, TNHB, Phase- III, Sathuvachari, Vellore - 632 009.

Kancheepuram Central Cooperative Bank Limited, rep. by its General Manager, Kancheepuram.

S. VAIDYANATHAN, J.

and 5/6

K. RAJASEKAR, J.

nv 25.09.2023 6/6