Director liability under provident fund law upheld where complaint showed responsibility for business conduct.

The Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and its schemes impose a broad compliance framework on employers and persons having control over an establishment. In prosecutions under Section 14A, liability can extend to a director who is shown by the complaint and Form 5A to have been in charge of and responsible for the conduct of the business, even if he is not the occupier or manager. The Court held that the complaint contained the necessary averments to make out the offence, and that Section 14(1-A) was not applicable to the alleged contravention.

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Issues: Whether a director of a company, though not the occupier or manager, can be prosecuted under Section 14A of the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 when the complaint and Form 5A state that he was in charge of and responsible for the conduct of the business of the establishment.

Analysis: The Act and the Schemes constitute a welfare code requiring employer compliance in respect of provident fund contributions and related obligations. The definition of "employer" is inclusive and, in the case of a factory, extends beyond the owner or occupier to the agent and named manager, while the scheme provisions require disclosure of owners, occupiers, directors, managers and others having ultimate control over the establishment. Section 14A fastens liability on every person who was in charge of and responsible to the company for the conduct of its business, and also on directors or other officers where consent, connivance or neglect is shown. On the complaint averments and the disclosures in Form 5A, the appellant was specifically shown as one of the persons in charge of and responsible for the business of the establishment. Section 14(1-A) was held to be inapplicable to the offence in question.

Conclusion: The director was validly prosecuted under Section 14A because the complaint contained the necessary averments and made out the ingredients of the offence.

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