Director ,District Rural Development ... vs Assistant Provident Fund ...
2026 Latest Caselaw 1004 Guj

Gujarat High Court

Director ,District Rural Development ... vs Assistant Provident Fund ... on 10 March, 2026

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                              C/SCA/1442/2026                              ORDER DATED: 10/03/2026

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                                     IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

                                       R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 1442 of 2026

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                               DIRECTOR ,DISTRICT RURAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
                                                    Versus
                          ASSISTANT PROVIDENT FUND COMMISSIONER, VADODARA & ANR.
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                       Appearance:
                       KAASH K THAKKAR(7332) for the Petitioner(s) No. 1
                       MS E.SHAILAJA(2671) for the Respondent(s) No. 1
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                          CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ANIRUDDHA P. MAYEE

                                                     Date : 10/03/2026

                                                      ORAL ORDER

1. By the present writ petition, the petitioner is impugning the order dated 20.11.2025 in Case No. 129 of 2024 passed by the learned Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, Vadodara, whereby the respondent No.1 has directed the petitioner to pay the amount of Rs. 1,41,32,305/- for the period from March, 2019 to March, 2023 on account of provident fund, pension fund, administrative charges in accordance with the provisions of the Act and Schemes.

2.0 It is submitted by the learned advocate Mr. Kaash Thakkar appearing for the petitioner that the petitioner has already preferred Appeal No. 3 of 2026 before the Provident Fund, Appellate Tribunal on 16.01.2026. He submits that the

NEUTRAL CITATION

C/SCA/1442/2026 ORDER DATED: 10/03/2026

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Appellate Tribunal is not available at the moment and the additional charge has been given to the CGIT, Jaipur. Learned advocate for the petitioner further submits that since the Appellate Tribunal is not available on regular basis, the Appeal along with application for stay is not yet heard. He further submits that the Appellate Authority be directed to hear the stay application / Appeal expeditiously. It is submitted that till the same is heard by the appellate Tribunal, the interim relief may be granted to the petitioner. He submits that the present writ petition has been filed only with a view to obtain interim relief pending the Appeal before the Appellate Tribunal.

2.1 Learned advocate for the petitioner further submits that in similar circumstances, the Division Bench of this Court in Special Civil Application No. 3107 of 2004 by the order dated 15.03.2004 has disposed of similar writ petition by granting interim relief till the pendency of the appeal before the Appellate Tribunal, where the Tribunal was not available.

3. Learned advocate Ms. E. Shailaja appearing on behalf of the respondents submits that presently the Appellate Tribunal is not available and additional charge has been given to CGIT, Jaipur. She submits that due to dual charge, the Tribunal is sitting intermittently. Learned advocate for the respondents further submits that the present writ

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petition can be disposed of by passing appropriate orders.

4. Considered the factual situation and the fact that the application filed under Section 7-O of the E.P.F Act is pending consideration before the Appellate Tribunal. The application under Section 7-O as well as Appeal is not likely to be heard expeditiously in near future until the Appellate Tribunal is regularly available.

5. This Court is of the considered opinion that the petitioner is liable to be protected till the application under Section 7-O and Waiver Application filed along with the Appeal No. 3 of 2026 is taken up for hearing by the Appellate Tribunal. It is directed that no coercive steps shall be taken by the respondents till the hearing the said applications / Appeal on merits by the learned Appellate Tribunal. The Appellate Tribunal shall hear and decide the applications as well as Appeal on its own merits in accordance with law. It is clarified that this Court has neither gone into the merits of the case nor any opinion is expressed thereon.

6. With the aforesaid, the present writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs.

(ANIRUDDHA P. MAYEE, J.) SALIM/