ORDER

This Criminal Original Petition had been filed seeking to call for the records in C.C.No.1228 of 2020 on the file of the learned II Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore and quash the proceedings in so far as the Petitioners are concerned.

2.The learned Counsel for the Petitioners submitted his arguments. It is the submission of the learned Counsel for the Petitioners that the Petitioners – M/s.North Chennai Thermal Power Station, Athipattu, which is a Government of Tamil Nadu undertaking, is involved in generation of electricity. It has Thermal Stations in various locations. The Petitioners – M/s.North Chennai Thermal Station is one of such power stations. In order to carry on various activities, the Thermal Power Station had called for tender and awarded works to various persons. The third party agencies are required to depute their employees to work inside the premises of the Power Stations. In order to handle the collection of ash, the Power Station had utilized the services of M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited which has its registered office at Sapthagiri Colony, Jafferkhanpet, Chennai. The said establishment not only carries out work for the North Chennai Thermal Power Station, TANGEDCO but also has various other activities. The Company M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited is registered under the Provident Funds Act as well as the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948. The Employees' State Insurance Corporation Registration number is 32000030260001001. Further, the learned Counsel for the Petitioners submitted that M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited had employed one Shri.Yaduwar Singh who was deputed to work in North Chennai Thermal Power Station from 01.07.2019. The employer M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited tried to register Shri.Yaduwar Singh in the online portal of Employees' State Insurance Corporation. However, due to mismatch of Aadhaar details his name could not be registered. Later, his name was registered only on 08.07.2019 and was given Registration No.5129937392. Unfortunately, on the same day he met with a fatal accident. On 09.07.2019 M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited submitted an accident report. The Petitioners paid a compensation of Rs.2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakhs only) to the legal heirs of Shri.Yaduwar Singh as per its policy even though there was no legal obligation on the Petitioners to do so. The Employees' State Insurance Corporation issued a notice to M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited on 29.10.2019 alleging that they had violated the provisions of Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 as they had not registered the employee within time. M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited gave reply on 08.11.2019. However, not satisfied with the reply, the Employees' State Insurance Corporation had filed a complaint in C.C.No.1228 of 2020 against the Managing Director of M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited. It is the submission of the learned Counsel for the Petitioners that as far as the Petitioners are concerned, the same show cause notice was also sent to the Petitioners. On 15.11.2019, the Petitioners in its reply stated that the employer who had engaged Shri.Yaduwar Singh was M/s.Chennai Radha Engineering Works (P) Limited and that they are the Company which had been independently registered under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948. Therefore, the question of prosecuting this Petitioners under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 does not arise. Further, the learned Counsel for the Petitioners invited the attention of this Court to Section 85(ii) of the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 which is extracted as under:

“85. Punishment for failure to pay contributions, etc.-If any person (a) fails to pay any contribution which under this Act he is liable to pay, or (b) deducts or attempts to deduct from the wages of an employee the whole or any part of the employers contribution, or (c) in contraventi