1. The batch of writ petitions can be dealt with under a common judgment. It is enough if the facts in Writ Petition No. 1800 of 1978 alone are noted. The petitioner-establishment carried on business of manufacturing Jamakalams (carpets) otherwise know as Thari Carpets, which are manufactured by using 22 looms and 2 permanent employees. As such, according to it the Employees' Provident Funds Act, 1952 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) would not apply to the petitioner. Under the Act, the establishment should have at least 20 employees employed therein. This being so, the second respondent, viz., the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Madras-14, issued a memo to the petitioner calling upon it to submit a return in Form 9 prescribed under the Employees' Provident Fund Schemes, 1952 and also a return in Form 3(FPF) prescribed under paragraph 15 of the Employees' Family Pension Scheme, 1971. Since the petitioner was contending that the Act itself would not apply in view of the fact that there being two permanent employees, all the others were merely independent contractors, and as such they are not employees, a petition was filed on 11th February, 1977, before the Central Go