Sambuddha Chakrabarti, J. - (1.) Let the affidavit of service filed in Court today be kept with the record. The petitioner is a social welfare organization and it prayed for exemption under the provisions of the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948. By an order dated December 4, 2014, the Secretary, Labour Department, Government of West Bengal granted exemption under Section 87 of the said Act for the year 2014- 2015.
(2.) Admittedly, when the petitioner made a prayer for renewal of the exemption under the said provision of the Act, the said Secretary by an order dated September 22, 2015 recorded the submissions of the representatives of the petitioner establishment and granted exemption for the year 2015-16 subject to the condition that the establishment will join in the ESI Scheme beyond the period 2015-16 positively. It was specifically mentioned therein that the prayer for further exemption would not be entertained. The reason for the same has already been indicated in the order that at the hearing of the application for renewal. The multifaceted and limitless medical benefits and allied facilities available under the ESI Scheme were also discussed. It appears from the order that the officials representing the petitioner establishment had admitted those facts.
(3.) However, the petitioner had made another application for renewal of the exemption which was received by the Labour Department, Government of West Bengal on March 22, 2016. By an order dated December 14, 2016, the respondent authorities had recorded that the audit report of the petitioner establishment was examined, the State Government was not satisfied with the submission of the petitioner establishment for renewal and the prayer for renewal had been turned down for the year 2016-17.;