IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.8213 of 2011 ======================================================

St. Marys School,Samastipur through the Secretary of the School, at Present Fr.Joseph Sahayaraj, R/O Catholic Church Camastipur, P.S.Samastipur Town, Distt-Samastipur, State Of Bihar ... ... Petitioner/s Versus

1. Employees Provident Fund Organ Bhavishya Nidhi Bhawan, 14, Bhikaiji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066

2. Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner Muzaffapur Employees Provident Fund Organization Sub Regional Office, New Vakalatkhana Building Court Compound, Muzaffarpur-842001, Bihar

3. Enforcement Officer, Muzaffarpur, Employees Provident Fund Organization Sub Regional Office, New Vakalatkkhana Building, Court Compound, Muzaffarpur-842001, Bihar ... ... Respondent/s ======================================================

Appearance :

For the Petitioner/s : Mr. K.M.Joseph, Advocate For the Respondent/s : M/s Prashant Sinha Amar Kr. Singh Shrish Anurag Aniket Rai, Advocates ======================================================

CORAM: HONOURABLE JUSTICE SMT. G. ANUPAMA CHAKRAVARTHY

ORAL JUDGMENT

Date : 20-02-2026

1. The petitioner has filed the instant application for the following relief: “That a writ in the nature of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction be issued quashing order dated 6.4.2011 (Annexure 8) passed by the Presiding Officer, Employees Provident Fund, Appellate Tribunal at New Delhi in A.T.A. No. 62 (3) of 2010 whereby the Learned Appellate Tribunal while setting aside the demand of interest on damages, has upheld the impugned order dated 23.11.2009 passed in 7A proceeding by Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner Muzaffarpur, assessing damages under Section 14 B of the Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act (hereafter called the Act) with consequential benefits including refund of interim deposit made by the petitioner.

ii. That the impugned order dated

23.11.2009 (Annexure -5) passed in 7A proceeding against the petitioner St. Mary's School Samastipur in Ref. No. SRO/ MUZ/ PD/ 5575/ Order/1331 by Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner Muzaffarpur, Bihar, assessing Damages under Section 14B for period 04/1981 to 12/1999 and interest under section 7Q for period 07/97 to 12/1999 of the Act, be set aside.

iii. That during the pendency of this application before this Hon'ble Court the operation of impugned orders dated 23.11.09 passed by the Assistant provident Fund Commissioner Muzaffarpur and of order dated

6.4.2011 passed by the Presiding Officer, EPF Appellate Tribunal be stayed.”

2. The case of the petitioner, as culled out from the Writ petition, is that the petitioner, St. Mary’s School, Samastipur, is a Christian minority educational institution established and administered by the Catholic Church. It is a non- profit charitable institution dependent upon moderate fees. The petitioner contends that at all relevant times it had less than 20 employees, and therefore Section 1(3) of the Employees Provident Fund Act was not applicable.

3. It is submitted that the school had voluntarily introduced its own Provident Fund Scheme from 01.03.1981, pursuant to service rules framed by the Church authorities. Contributions were deposited in joint bank accounts in the names of employees and the management.

4. It is urged that the Act was extended to educational institutions by Government Notification by S.O. No. 986 dated 19.02.1982 with effect from 06.03.1982, and in any event only establishments employing 20 or more persons were covered. According to the petitioner, the Enforcement Officer’s direction in 1994 requiring transfer of amounts from private PF accounts to the statutory EPF account was illegal, as the school had only 13–14 employees.

5. It is contended that the applicability of the Act was never adjudicated in a proper proceeding under Section 7A determining whether the establishment had 20 or more employees.

6. The petitioner asserts that the fr