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Judgment
O R D E R
09.07.2024 : Heard Counsel for the Appellant.
This appeal has been filed against an order dated 12.03.2024 passed by the Learned Adjudicating Authority (National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai Bench-I) in I.A. No. 2705 of 2021 filed by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) which has been partly allowed.
The Learned Adjudicating Authority in paragraphs 3.2 & 3.3 has made following observations:
“3.2.The appellant has claimed dues on account of principal contribution, damages and interest on these two components. In so far as principal contribution is concerned the same no longer forms part of Liquidation estate, hence the Liquidator is directed to exclude this amount from the Liquidation estate and deal with the same in priority over all other claims. In so far as damage and interest are concerned, these dues are not payable to the employees, but the same are contributions to the general fund of Provident Fund Organisation and have statutory force.
3.3.Accordingly, we direct the Liquidator to admit the dues on account of contribution to Provident fund (both employer and employee) and exclude the corresponding amount from the Liquidation estate to be dealt with in priority of all other claims. We further direct the Liquidator to admit the dues on account of damages and interest as Operational Debt payable to Statutory Authorities and deal with the same accordingly in terms of section 53 of the Code.”
Learned Counsel for the Appellant challenging the order submits that there was no separate account maintained for the PF and claims relate two years prior to the CIRP commencement date.
Be that as it may, the law is now well settled by the Judgment of this Tribunal in the matter of `Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association’ Vs. `Ashish Chhawchharia Resolution Professional of Jet Airways (India) Ltd. & Ors.’ in Comp. App. (AT) (Ins.) 752 of 2021, that provident fund claims are not part of the liquidation estate and Section 36 has been considered and interpreted which Judgment has also been affirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
Learned Counsel for the Appellant has referred to the Judgments in the matter of `State Bank of India’ Vs. `Moser Bear Karmachari Union & Anr.’ reported in 2019 SCC Online NCLAT 447 and `Mr. Savan Godiwala’ Vs. `Mr. Apalla Siva Kumar’ in Comp. App. (AT) (Ins.) No. 1229 of 2019. All the above Judgments have been taken note in the Judgment of this Tribunal in `Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineers Welfare Association’ (Supra) and has been held that provident fund dues cannot be part of the liquidation estate under Section 36.
We thus do not find any error in the order of the Adjudicating Authority directing the amount to be kept separate from the liquidation estate.
There is no merit in the appeal. The appeal is dismissed.