Board of Trustees as body corporate holds authority to file writ petitions under Article 226 to challenge Appellate Tribunal orders preventing their finality without higher review.

[Made by S. M. SUBRAMANIAM, J.,]

By consent of both parties, the writ appeal is taken up for final hearing at the admission stage itself.

2. The present intra Court appeal has been instituted under Clause

15 of Letters Patent by the Central Board of Trustees, Employees Provident Fund, Rep. by Regional Provident Fund Commissioner II, challenging the order of the writ Court holding that the Board of Trustees, has no authority to maintain a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

3. Uncontroverted facts between the parties would show that the competent authority under the Employees Provident Fund passed an order under Section 14B of the Act on 31.05.2016. Aggrieved by the said order, Establishment preferred an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal entertained the appeal under Section 7-I of the Act and passed final orders. Since the Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal decided the issues against the Organisation, the writ petition has been instituted by the Central Board of Trustees.

4. Mr.C.Kulanthaivel, learned Panel Counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant would contend that Union of India represented by the Central Board of Trustees is an aggrieved person and therefore, entitled to maintain the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. The appellant is a party respondent before the Employees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal and contested the case on merits. Thus, the appellant is an aggrieved person for the purpose of maintaining a writ petition. Regarding the authority of the Central Board of Trustees, the learned Panel Counsel would rely on the resolution of the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, New Delhi, authorising the Central Board of Trustees to institute / file, conduct, prosecute and defend civil and criminal cases etc. That apart, he would submit that assuming that the Central Board of Trustee is not an authority to maintain a writ petition under Article 226, then for all purposes, the order of the Tribunal will become final and the Department may not be in a position to ventilate their grievances and settle the issues before the High Court and the Supreme Court. Thus, the very proposition held by the writ Court is running counter to the established principle of law, infringing the basic right of an aggrieved person, to maintain a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

5. On behalf of the respondent it is stated that there are judgments to show that the Central Board of Trustees or any other authority under the Organisation has no authority to maintain a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. That apart, the order has been passed by the authority under the Act. Therefore, they cannot be construed as an aggrieved person and more so, they cannot challenge their own decision before the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

6. This Court has considered the rival submissions made between the parties to the lis.

7. Though in the present cases, appellate authority has passed an order on enquiry under Section 14B of the Act, it cannot be said that in the event of the said order is reversed by the Appellate Tribunal, no further challenge could be made before the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. If the said argument is accepted, in all cases, in the event of the order of the Original Authority is reversed on appeal by the Tribunal, the same would necessarily become final, without any further challenge before any other Forum or before the High Court or Supreme Court.

8. That apart, Section 5-C of the Employees Provident Fund Act stipulates