SATYABRATA CHAKRABORTI Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner in both these petitions, being W.P. 17148 (W) of 2006 and W.P. 4706 (W) of 2007 is the manager and secretary of a school, being "Atreyee English Medium School" and he primarily seeks to avoid coverage of the said school from the provisions of the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (the Act in short). The school in question is affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and was established in the year 1984. The grounds on which the Petitioner, representing the management of the school wants to be excluded from the coverage of the Act is that the majority of their employees are opposing entry into the statutory provident (sic fund) scheme as according to them, the benefits they are getting at present from the school is superior to the benefits granted under the statutory scheme. It has also been contended that in view of the provisions of Section 16(1)(b) of the Act, the provisions of the statute is not applicable to the said institute, as the employees of the said school are covered by the West Bengal Non-Government Educational Institutions and Local Authorities (Control of Provident Fund) Act, 1983 and the West Bengal Recognised Non-Government Educational Institution Employees (Death-cum-Retirement Benefit) Scheme, 1981. I shall refer to the said Act and the scheme as the 1983 Act and the 1981 Scheme respectively in later part of this judgment.

(2.) In W.P. No. 17148 (W) of 2006, under challenge is certain steps initiated against the management of the school under Sections 8 and 8-B of the Act; upon initiation of certificate proceedings. In this writ petition, the Petitioner has also sought a declaration to the effect that the application of the establishment for exemption from the provisions of the Act under Section 17(1) shall be deemed to have been granted. The application for exemption was made before the Central Government on or about 15 February, 2005 in pursuance of liberty given to the school authorities by an Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court. I shall refer to this decision of the Hon'ble Division Bench in the later part of this judgment. By a communication dated 29 May, 2006, the Petitioner was informed by the provident fund authorities that the application for exemption of the establishment stood rejected.

(3.) The grounds for such rejection were disclosed in a later communication dated 18 October, 2006, issued by one S.D. Xavier, Under Secretary to the Government of India, bearing memorandum No. S35015/11/06-SS-II, a copy of which has been made Annexure P16 to W.P. 4706 (W) of 2007. The legality of this memorandum has been challenged in the said writ petition, being W.P. 4706 (W) of 2007, which I shall henceforth describe as the second writ petition. The school authorities sought exemption under Section 17(1) of the Act on the ground that they had introduced West Bengal Non-Government Institutions (Death-cum-Retirement) Benefits Scheme, 1981. It was also represented before the designated officer of the Central Government, before whom the exemption application was filed, that the majority of the employees had accepted the scheme adopted by the school authorities as the said scheme was more beneficial than the statutory scheme.