ORDER :- This is a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution wherein the petitioners pray for the issue of a writ of Mandamus or other appropriate writ forbearing the respondent, the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, Madras, from enforcing the provisions of the Employees Provident Funds Act, 1952 (Act XIX of 1952) and the Scheme framed thereunder, against them. I shall refer to Act XIX of 1952 as the Act in this judgment.

2. The petitioners constitute a firm of partnership carrying on the business of manufacture and sale of brass and copper vessels in the village of Pallathur in Ramanathapuram district. They purchase brass and copper sheets and circles from the market, and turn these raw materials into household vessels and utensils by employing manual labour. The products so shaped and turned into wares are polished with the aid of electric motor of 6 H. P. According to the petitioners there are only three employees under them who do the packing and despatch of the finished wares. The workers who hammer and shape the sheets and circles into finished products are alleged to be not employees under the petitioners but individuals doing the work on some contract basis. T