ORDER

Hon’ble Mr. Tarun Shridhar, Member (A) The applicant no.1 is an All India Employees Provident Fund Staff Federation through its General Secretary and the rest of the applicants are various officers of the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) holding the post of either Enforcement Officer (EO) or Accounts Officer (AO). The post of EO/AO is a step towards induction into Group ‘A’ post in the EPFO. On the stated account of stagnation in different cadres and also on account of administrative propriety, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the EPFO took a decision to undertake a review of the organization and cadre for the purpose of its restructuring. For this purpose, a Committee comprising officers at different levels was constituted and it submitted a report which was considered in a special meeting of CBTon 09.12.2015. After examining the contents of the report, the CBT appointed a Sub Committee to make appropriate recommendations to the Board, which after taking into consideration the recommendations, took a decision that the cadre restructuring as proposed should beimplemented w.e.f. 09.12.2015, i.e. the date on which the Sub Committee was appointed.

O.A. No. 3139/2022

2. The report of the Sub Committee, which recommended review and restructuring of the cadre, indicated detailed studies and thereafter determined the number of officers and staff required at various levels in terms of functional requirements and accordingly, made specific recommendations with respect to the number of posts in Group ‘A’ specifically Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner (APFC), Deputy Provident FundCommissioner (DPFC) etc.. Although the report of the Sub Committee along with its recommendations were approved, certain anomalies were noticed, which were referred to an Anomaly Redressal – cum – Implementation Committee (ARCIC), which too submitted its own opinion/recommendation in the matter of redistributing certain posts and giving its own recommendation with respect to the number of posts of DPFC and APFC.

3. The cadre restructuring proposal was once again considered by the CBDT and thereafter submitted to the Ministry of Labour & Employment for its approval. TheMinistry of Labour, vide its letter dated 27.12.2016, approved the proposal, however, subject to certain amendments. Pursuant to this approval, an Office Orderdated 13.01.2017 containing the revised cadre strength O.A. No. 3139/2022 was issued by the EPFO and thereafter necessary amendments in the rules were carried out and amendedrules notified vide Notification dated 16.03.2018. The applicants herein place a challenge upon these three communications in the present Original Application, seeking the following reliefs:- “a. Quash Annexure A/1 Letter No.A-32022/10/2014-SS-1 dated 27.12.2016 issued by the Ministry of Labour & Employment to the extent it earmarked the revised sanctioned strength of RPFC-II as 299 and that of APFC as 452 as if it were 2 cadres instead of mentioning it as the revised sanctioned strength of APFC as 751.

b. Quash Annexure A/2 Office Order No.HRM-I/D-1(1)2017/CR/26417 dated 13.01.2017 issued by the Central PF Commissioner to the extent it earmarked the revised sanctioned strength of RPFC-II as 299 and that of APFC as 452 as if it were 2 cadres instead of mentioning it as the revised sanctioned strength of APFC as 751.

c. Quash Annexure A/3 Recruitment (Amendment) Rules for RPFC-II vide Notification No.HRD/56/2016/RR/Commissioner’s Cadrepublished dated 16.03.2018 issued by the Ministry ofLabour & Employment, Govt. of India. d. Direct the Respondents to implement the CadreRestructuring with effect from 09.12.2015 as decided by 210th CBT meeting.

e. Direct the Respondents to prepare the up-to- date Seniority list of EO/AOs and to promote the 206 senior most AO/Eos tot eh post of APFC as on date of implementation of Cadre Restructuring.

f. Direct the Respondents to notify the amended Recruitment Rules for the post of APFC incorporati