Judgment:
CWP No.11727 of 1994 (O & M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No.11727 of 1994 (O & M) Date of decision: 14.01.2014 Mukand Lal National Sr.Secondary School ...Petitioner(s) Versus Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Haryana and another ...Respondent(s) CORAM: HON'BLE Mr.JUSTICE G.S.SANDHAWALIA Present: Mr.B.S.Chhatwal, Advocate, for the petitioner.
Mr.Indresh Goel, Addl.
A.G., Haryana.
Mr.Rajesh Hooda, Advocate, for respondent No.2.
G.S.SANDHAWALIA, J.
(Oral) C.M.No.5342 of 2011 Application has been filed for early hearing of the writ petition.
In view of averments made in the application, the application is allowed.
With the consent of counsel for the parties, the main writ petition is taken up for hearing today itself.
CWP No.11727 of 1994 The present order shall dispose of two writ petitions i.e.CWP Nos.11727 and 11726 of 1994, as common questions of facts and law are involved in both the writ petitions.
Facts are being taken up from CWP No.11727 of 1994.
Gupta Shivani 2014.01.22 16:55 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document High Court Chandigarh CWP No.11727 of 1994 (O & M) 2 Challenge in the present writ petition is to the order dated 01.07.1994 (Annexure P-1) whereby, assessment has been made under Section 7-A of the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (in short 'the Act') regarding the assessment from August, 1982 to December, 1993.
The petitioner has been asked to deposit a sum of `26,74,305/- within a period of 15 days.
The ground taken in the writ petition is that the petitioner is an aided school and is getting 75% aid from the State of Haryana for the purposes of distribution of salary and allowances and as per notification dated 21.08.1984, exemption had been granted from the purview of the Act.
Accordingly, challenge was raised.
The writ petition was ordered to be heard alongwith CWP No.9247 of 1994 and the operation of the impugned award was stayed.
Counsel for respondent No.2 has brought to the notice of the Court that CWP No.9247 of 1994 was disposed of on 05.03.2009 by a Co.ordinate Bench of this Court alongwith a bunch of matters in which the lead case was CWP No.13075 of 1993, BPSM Girls College versus The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner and otheRs.The said writ petitions were disposed of with the following directions:- “1(i) The petitioners shall within a period of two months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order, submit reply-cum-objections to the Assessing Authority under the 1952 Act, along with the documents/material in support of their claim for exemption under the notification dated 21.08.1984.
On receipt of their reply-cum-objections, the Assessing Authority is directed to specifically consider the claim for exemption in terms of paras 2 and 3 of the aforesaid notification and determine as to whether or Gupta Shivani 2014.01.22 16:55 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document High Court Chandigarh CWP No.11727 of 1994 (O & M) 3 not these educational institutions are entitled to such exemption; (ii) In those cases where the assessment orders under Section 7-A of the 1952 Act have been passed, the petitioneRs.shall be entitled to file a statutory appeal under Section 7-I of the 1952 Act within two months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order along with the material/documents in support of their claim for exemption in terms of notification dated 21.08.1984 and the Appellate Authority shall be obligated to consider and dispose of their claim regarding exemption in the same manner as the Assessing Authority is required to do as per direction (i) above; (iii) Till the petitioneRs.claim is decided by the Assessing Authority or the Appellate Authority, as the case may be, no recovery shall be effected from them till then.
In case the Authorities hold that the petitioners are entitled to the exemption granted vide notification dated 21.08.1984 as extended from time to time, the impugned notices shall be rendered infructuous.
However, if the Assessing Authority or the Appellate Authority declines the exemption, the petitioners shall be granted three months period to deposit the arrears under the 1952 Act which, shall, however, not preclude them to impugn those orders before the Appellate Forum or otherwise if permissible in law.
Wherever the petitioners have taken a plea that they have already deposited the contributory provident fund including the employees' share with the State Government, it would be desirable for the Assessing Authority or the Appellate Authority to issue a notice to the State Government and adjust such payments so that the petitioners are not burdened with additional Gupta Shivani 2014.01.22 16:55 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document High Court Chandigarh CWP No.11727 of 1994 (O & M) 4 liability.”
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Perusal of the above directions would go on to show that the petitioners have been relegated to the remedy of filing objections and appeal and recovery has been stayed till the decision of the said objections/appeal.
The matter is squarely covered by the above directions.
Accordingly, the present writ petitions are also disposed of in the same terMs.14.01.2014 (G.S.SANDHAWALIA) shivani JUDGE Gupta Shivani 2014.01.22 16:55 I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document High Court Chandigarh