JUDGMENT

The petitioner is the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy. It is a society registered under the Travancore- Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act 1955. According to the petitioner, the society is constituted with the objective of helping the Kerala State Government formulate policies connected with film, television, and related activities and function as a link between the government and the film industry. It is stated that the petitioner is bestowed with a duty to set up film and video archives, a directorate of film festivals, manage and distribute state awards to films and video programmes, an audiovisual library for the public, etc. According to the petitioner, during the period from 01.04.1999 to 31.03.2005 and thereafter, from 01.04.2005 to 31.03.2010, the petitioner was exempted from the application of the provisions of the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (hereinafter referred as ‘the EPF Act, 1952’) by virtue of Exts.P2 and P2(a) notifications issued by the Central Government under Sub-Section (2) of Section 16 of the EPF Act, 1952. It is submitted that totally ignoring the terms of Exts.P2 and P2(a), the