1. The petitioners in this bunch of writ petitions are employees of the State Co-operative Bank and the District Co-operative Banks. They challenge the orders of exclusion purportedly passed under the Employees’ Provident funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (the ‘Act’ for short). I shall refer to the parties and the exhibits in WP(C) No.15150/2011 for the sake of convenience. Two of the writ petitions have been filed seeking to enforce the exclusion orders impugned in the other writ petitions.

2. The petitioners enrolled themselves under the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 framed under Section 6A of the Act while in service. The petitioners retired from service during the years 2000-2005 and have since been drawing pension under the scheme aforesaid. The disbursement was abruptly halted by an order of exclusion passed by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation. Ext.P3 is the order of exclusion passed by the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner I, Kerala, it inter alia reads as follows:

“The applications filed by the State Co-operative Bank and 14 District Co-operative Banks seeking exemption from the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 under Section 17 (1C) of the Emp