IMPORTANT POINT
Regional Provident Fund Commissioner under Employees Provident Fund Act discharges statutory functions for running the scheme and running of such scheme would be service hired by employees and such employees would be beneficiary under Section 2(1)(d) of Consumer Protection Act.

M. B. Shah, President— This Revision Petition is filed against the order dated 13.6.2004 passed in Appeal No. 21 of 2004 by the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Andhra Pradesh. The State Commission held that failure or delay in grant of advance to a person from his Provident Fund Account would not entitle him to file a complaint under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, and, therefore, dismissed the appeal and confirmed the order passed by the District Forum in C.D. No. 251 of 2001. Hence, the Complainant has come in revision before us.

2. In the present case, the Complainant applied for an advance from his Provident Fund Account for purchase of house site on 10.10.1996. That application was rejected on 1.11.1996 on the ground that the complainant had already availed an advance from his provident fund account for house repairs during the year 1995-96, and, that there is no provision to grant loan if the member has earlier drawn advance for purchase of site, etc. Thereafter, the complainant had re-submitted the application on 18.11.1996 and this was again rejected on 16.1.1997 for the same reason. In January, 1997, the complainant had again submitted the application and inadvertently the loan was granted on 5.10.1997, which the Opposite Party contends that it was a mistake on the part of the officers of the Opposite Party and that no recovery of the said illegal advance was initiated. But, by that time the complainant suffered loss because the contracting party forfeited the earnest money.

3. In our view, the contention of the Opposite Party that the complainant is not entitled for grant of second advance, in terms of the Employees Provident Fund Scheme 1952, is unjustifiable and without any basis. For this, Respondent placed reliance on Clause 68B of the Employees Provident Fund Scheme, 1952. The relevant portion thereof reads as under:

68B. Withdrawal from the Fund for the purchase of a dwelling house/flat or for the construction of a dwelling house including the acquisition of a suitable site for the purpose.— (1) The Commissioner, or where so authorized by the Commissioner, any officer subordinate to him, may on an application from a member in such form as may be prescribed and subject to the conditions prescribed in this paragraph sanction from the amount standing to the credit of the member in the fund, an withdrawal—

(a) ….

(b) for purchasing a dwelling site for the purpose of construction of a dwelling house or a ready-built dwelling house/flat from any individual ….

(2)(a) For the purpose of purchase of a site for construction of house thereon, the amount of withdrawal shall not exceed the member’s basic wages and dearness allowance for twenty four months or the member’s own share of contributions, together with the employer’s share of contributions with interest thereon or the actual cost towards the acquisition of the dwelling site, whichever is the least.

(3) (a) No withdrawal under this paragraph shall be granted unless—

(i) the member has completed five year’s membership of the Fund;

(ii) the member’s own share of contributions with interest thereon in the amount standing to his credit in the Fund is not less than one thousand rupee;

(iii) a declaration from the member that the dwelling site or the dwelling house/flat or the house under construction is free from encumbrances and the same is under title of the member and/or the spouse:

…….

(7). An additional withdrawal upto twelve months basic wages and dearness allowance or the member’s own share of contributions with interest thereon, in the amount standing to his credit in the Fund, whichever is less, may be granted in one installment only, for additions, substantial alterations or improvements necessary to the dwelling house owned by the member or by the spouse or jointly by the member and the spouse.

4. The aforesaid clauses, in our view, nowhere prohibit grant of advance for purchasing a dwelling site for the purpose of cons