ORDER :

This writ petition has been filed by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation questioning the order dated 04.03.2013, passed in A.T.A.No. 442(13)2012, on the file of the Employees' Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi, whereby the appeal filed by the second respondent herein was allowed by placing reliance upon a decision of the Honourable Apex Court in the case of Employees' State Insurance Corporation vs. HMT Ltd., and another , reported in (2008) 3 SCC 35, on the ground that there was no willful default on the part of the second respondent in remitting the provident fund contributions belatedly and there is no finding recorded by the petitioner holding that the second respondent has willfully and deliberately withheld the provident fund contributions.

2. As a matter of fact, the above referred decision was overruled by the subsequent decision of the Honourable Supreme Court in the case of Horticulture Experiment Station vs. Provident Fund Organisation , reported in (2022) 4 SCC 516 and thereafter, a Full Bench of this Court, having taken note of the said decision i.e., the decision in the case of Horticulture (cited supra), by a common Judgment dated 03.06.2024,