Madras High Court

S. Pitchiah vs S. Pitchiah on 21 September, 2023

                                                                           W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023

                                  IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

                                                 DATED: 21.09.2023

                                                      CORAM:

                                   THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. VAIDYANATHAN
                                                      and
                                     THE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. RAJASEKAR

                                    W.A. No.2560 of 2023 & C.M.P. No.21622 of 2023
                                    W.A. No.2563 of 2023 & C.M.P. No.21628 of 2023

             1.        The Central Provident Fund Commissioner
                       Employees Provident Fund Organisation
                       Ministry of Labour & Employment
                       Government of India
                       Bhavishya Nidhi Bhavan
                       14, Bhikaji Cama Place
                       New Delhi 110 066

             2.        The Additional Central Provident fund Commissioner
                       HQ (Pension)
                       Employees Provident Fund Organisation
                       Bhavishya Nidhi Bhavan
                       14, Bhikaji Cama Place
                       New Delhi 110 066

             3.        The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner-I (Pension)
                       Employees Provident Fund Organisation
                       Bhavishya Nidhi Bhavan
                       14, Bhikaji Cama Place
                       New Delhi 110 066

             4.        The Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner
                       Employees Provident Fund Organisation
                       37, Royapettah High Road
                       Chennai 600 014


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                                                                      W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023



        5.             The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner
                       Employees Provident Fund Organisation
                       37, Royapettah High Road
                       Chennai 600 014                         Appellants in both appeals
                                                      v
             1.        S. Pitchiah
             2.        R. Dhanasekaran
             3.        P.N. Sivadasan
             4.        D. Mahalingam
             5.        M. Nirmala Devi
             6.        C. Ramalingam
             7.        V. Muthukumaran
             8.        V.R. Meenakshi
             9.        S. Subramanian
             10. A. Umadevi
             11. R. Sampath Kumar
             12. N. Sulaika Beevi
             13. B. Augustine
             14. S.A. Kathija
             15. G. Gopalakrishnan
             16. V. Dhinakaran
             17. C. Munusamy
             18. K. Packirisamy
             19. S. Viswanathan
             20. S. Kamalaveni Sundaram
             21. T. Devairakkam
             22. P.S. Piramanayagam
             23. C. Ilangovan
             24. S. Govindarajan
             25. J.A. Jothi
             26. S. Krishnamurthy
             27. K. Ilango
             28. C.R. Gopinath
             29. K.P. Thangavel
             30. S. Leela
             31. D. Chandrasekar
             32. A. Somasundaram
             33. R.P. Chellappan
             34. T. Venu
             35. G. Subramanian
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                                                   W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023

             36. B. Karpaga Sundari
             37. Lakshmi Krishnamurthy
             38. R. Bama
             39. K. Gurunathan
             40. Suriya Kumari Palani
             41. B. Prabhakaran
             42. P. Vijayalakshmi
             43. P. Hemalatha
             44. R. Gopalakrishnan
             45. R. Mutharasan
             46. M. Thiyagarajan
             47. N. Palani
             48. S. Rajendran
             49. S. Muthukumaran
             50. A.R. Palaniappan
             51. K. Kesavalu
             52. K.V. Ponnusamy
             53. V. Vidhyavathy
             54. M. Ramalingam
             55. C. Krishnamoorthy
             56. T. Rajendiran
             57. M. Sekaran
             58. G. Aruchamy
             59. A.P. Jayachandran
             60. S. Thangamani
             61. P. Selwyn Chandra Doss Geoffrey
             62. T.R. Surendran
             63. M.V. Balasubramanian
             64. K.S. Shanmuga Sundaram
             65. A. Rangaraju
             66. J. Asokan
             67. S.V. Yoganathan
             68. M. Sundara Murthy
             69. R. Pandian
             70. A. Elangovan
             71. Money Jeyakumar
             72. R. Balasubramanyan
             73. R. Srinivasan
             74. A. Muniyayah
             75. K. Srinivasan
             76. P. Chandran
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                                             W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023

             77. P.K. Kothandapani
             78. M. Shanmugam
             79. S. Vathsala
             80. A. Aiyappan
             81. A. Chandra Paul Pandian
             82. S.H. Syed Ibrahim
             83. A. Dhanaraj
             84. S. Hemavathy
             85. K. Ramiah
             86. V. Mahendran
             87. N. Thillairaj
             88. A. Mohamed Ghouse Shariff
             89. R. Gopi
             90. S.M. Jainul Abdeen
             91. M. Baskaran
             92. S. Srinivasan
             93. V. Dhanavelu
             94. T. Sridharan
             95. K. Vijayalakshmi
             96. J. Arasu
             97. R.Ravichandran
             98. S. Boopathy
             99. S. Sivakumaran
             100. A.M. Murugesh
             101. M. Selvaraj
             102. V. Rajendran
             103. A. Venkatachalam
             104. R. Quinston Sahayaraj
             105. K. Govindan
             106. N. Gopalasamy
             107. S. Namasivayam
             108. M. Suriyamurthy
             109. M. Sankaran
             110. K.G. Shanmugam
             111. V. Thendral
             112. R. Gopalakrishnan
             113. M. Rajendiran
             114. M. Subramanian
             115. T.K. Panneer Selvam
             116. V. Jayaraj
             117. M. Ismail Khan
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                                                                         W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023

         118.   R.A. Mahendira Varman
         119.   V.K. Govindasamy
         120.   R. Jothimani
         121.   S. Murugesan
         122.   V. Asokan
         123.   K. Rajeswari
         124.   G.K. Amirtha Gowri
         125.   J. Samson Jayaseelan
         126.   T. Mani Vasagam
         127.   N. Ramachandran
         128.   T.V. Ganesan
         129.   K. Ganapathy
         130.   R. Rajendran
         131.   K. Mohanarangasamy
         132.   T. Baskaran
         133.   T.P. Jagannathan
         134.   V. Purushotham
         135.   M. Jayakumar
         136.   K. Rajaram
         137.   A. Murugesan
         138.   R. Radhakrishnan
         139.   A.V.S. Janani
         140.   V. Thandayuthapani
         141.   M. Selvaraj
         142.   B. Mohana Sundaram
         143.   G. Boobathy
         144.   B. Rani
         145.   N. Sukumar
         146.   K. Manoharan

         147. Union of India
              represented by Secretary to Government of India
              Ministry of Labour & Employment
              Shram Shakti Bhawan
              Rafi Marg
              New Delhi 110 001

             148. The Managing Director
                       The Tamil Nadu State Apex Cooperative Bank Ltd.
                       233 (New No.4)
                       NSC Bose Road, Chennai 600 001
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                                                                         W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023



         149. The Chairman
              The TNSC Bank EPF Trust
              No.233 (New No.4)
              NSC Bose Road
              Chennai 600 001                             Respondents in W.A. No.2560/2023

1. R. Raghupathy

2. S.M. Arurmugam

3. P. Manivel

4. S. Karuppiah

5. R. Ganesan

6. G. Sheshayee

7. K. Ramasamy

8. S. Periyasamy

9. L. Palanivel

10. K. Duraisamy

11. P. Muthusamy

12. C. Annamalai

13. K. Rajendran

14. A. Muthusamy

15. N. Venkatesan

16. N. Jambulingam

17. M. Thangaraj

18. P. Mohanasundaram

19. P. Ravichandran

20. P. Muthusamy

21. S. Veerapandian

22. P. Rajaram

23. S. Ravi

24. D. Udayakumar

25. J. Madhavan

26. V. Subramaniyan

27. P. Muraleetharan

28. Union of India represented by Secretary to Government of India Ministry of Labour & Employment Shram Shakti Bhawan Rafi Marg New Delhi 110 001 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis

W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023

29. Tamil Nadu Cements Corporation Ltd.

represented by the Chairman & Managing Director LLA Buildings, II Floor 735 Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002

30. TANCEM Provident Fund Trust represented by its Secretary LLA Buildings, II Floor 735 Anna Salai Chennai 600 002 Respondents in W.A. No.2563/2023

Writ Appeals filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent challenging the orders dated 24.04.2019 and 27.03.2019 passed in W.P. Nos.11967 of 2019 and 6902 of 2019 respectively.

For appellants in Mr. R. Vishnu both W.As.

For private respondents in Mr. Abishek Jenasenan both W.As.

COMMON JUDGMENT

(delivered by S. VAIDYANATHAN, J.)

These writ appeals are directed against the orders dated 24.04.2019 and

27.03.2019 passed in W.P. Nos.11967 of 2019 and 6902 of 2019, respectively.

2 The issue involved in the instant writ appeals has already been

considered by this very Bench in the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner-I

(Pension) and 2 others v Food Corporation of India and 4 others1. For the

sake of ready reference, the said judgment is extracted below: https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis

W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023

“This writ appeal is directed against the order dated 27.04.2019 passed by a Single Bench of this Court in W.P. No.33999 of 2017.

2 Today, when this matter was taken up for hearing, Mr. Vishnu, learned Standing Counsel for the appellants/EPFO submitted that the issue involved in this writ appeal is covered by the order passed by a Coordinate Bench of this Court in P. Chandrasekaran v Union of India & 4 others2, 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.3.

3 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 in view of the submission made by him in paragraph 2, supra, this writ appeal also is disposed of on the same terms in which P.Chandrasekaran, supra, was disposed of. No costs. Connected C.M.P.

is closed.”

In view of the above, these writ appeals also stand disposed of on the same

terms on which W.A.No.354 of 2021 was disposed of. Costs made easy.

Connected C.M.Ps. are closed.

(S.V.N., J.) (K.R.S., J.) 21.09.2023 cad

https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis 2 W.P. Nos.20160 of 2019 etc. batch decided on 27.06.2023 3 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 912

W.A. Nos.2560 & 2563 of 2023

To 1 The Secretary to Government of India Ministry of Labour & Employment New Delhi 110 001

2 The Chairman (CPF Trust)/ Chairman and Managing Director Food Corporation of India Head Office, No.16-20, Barakhamba Lane New Delhi 110 001

3 The Executive Director (CPF) Food Corporation of India Head Office, 16-20, Barakhamba Lane New Delhi 110 001

4 The Executive Director (South) Food Corporation of India South Zone No.3, Haddows Road Chennai 600 006

https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis