JUDGMENT :

Sureshwar Thakur, J.

Since all the writ petitions herein involve common questions of facts and law, therefore, they are amenable to be decided through a common order.

2. For the sake of brevity, the facts of CWP-14622-2023 are taken here for deciding the instant controversy.

Factual Backdrop of the case.

3. The Employees Provident Fund and Mise Provisions Act, 1952 (hereinafter for short called as the 1952 Act) was enacted on 04.03.1952. Thereafter, on 02.09.1952, the Employees Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 (hereinafter for short called as EPF Scheme, 1952 ) was notified by the Central Government in accordance with Section 5 of the 1952 Act, provisions whereof become extracted hereinafter.

'5. Employees' Provident Fund Schemes - [(1)] The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, frame a Scheme to be called the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme for the establishment of Provident Funds under this Act for employees or for any class of employees and specify the establishments or class of establishments to which the said Scheme shall apply and there shall be established, as soon as may be after the framing of the Scheme, a Fund in accordance with the provisions of this Act and the Scheme.

4. Further, as per section 6 of the 1952 Act, the employer is bound to deduct 10/12% (initially it was only 6.25%) from the salary/wages of the employees and contribute equal amount from his own pocket and deposit the same with the EPF Department under EPF Scheme 1952, by 15th of every month.

5. Further, Para 2 (f) of the EPF Scheme, 1952 defines an 'Excluded Employee' and also provides the wage ceiling limit, para whereof, becomes extracted hereinafter.

2. Definitions - In this Scheme, unless the context otherwise requires -

6. As per the said para, an 'excluded employee' means an employee whose pay at the time, when he is otherwise entitled to become a member of the Fund, exceeds Fifteen thousand rupees per month. As per para 2(f), only the employees getting the salary/wages upto the wage ceiling (i.e. Rs. 15000/-) are mandatorily required and entitled to be enrolled as EPF Members (may be called as Mandatory Members) and the employees whose salary exceeds the wage ceiling limit of Rs. 15000/- are excluded from the purview of the Act (may be called option Members).

7. Thereafter, Clause (6) was added in Para 26 of EPFS, 1952, wherebys, mandatory joint options in writing both by the employer, and, the employee to the authority concerned, thus could be exercised, wherebys, the 'excluded employee', who was getting salary/wages above the wage ceiling limit could be enrolled in the EPF Scheme, 1952 and/or the contribution on the basis of the actual salary drawn by the employee concerned, thus was also allowed.

8. Thereafter, the Employees Pension Scheme, 1995 (hereinafter for short called as the EPS, 1995) was introduced on 16.11.1995, thus in terms of Section 6A of the 1952 Act, provisions whereof become extracted hereinafter.

[6A. Employees' Pension Scheme.-

(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, frame a scheme to be called the Employees ' Pension Scheme for the purpose of providing for-

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 6, there shall be established, as soon as may be after framing of the Pension Scheme, a Pension Fund into which there shall be paid, from time to time, in respect of every employee who is a member of the Pension Scheme,-

(3) to (7) xxxx

9. Moreover, it is relevant to allude to para 3(2) of the EPS, 1995, provisions whereof become extracted hereinafter.

3. Employees' Pension Fund -

(1) From and out of the contributions payable by the employer in each month under Section 6 of the Act or under the rules of the Provident Fund of the establishment which is exempted either under clauses (a) and (b) of sub-section (1) of section 17 of the Act or whose employees are exempted under either paragraph 27 or paragraph 27-A of the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 1952, a part of co