EPF contribution timing follows the employer's wage month, not a mandatory British calendar month.

The EPF Scheme's reference to filing within 15 days of the close of every month was read with the Act and the Payment of Wages Act to mean the wage month adopted by the employer, not a compulsory British calendar month. Because the statute does not define "wage month" or require a calendar-month basis, an employer may fix a wage period up to one month, and the contribution obligation follows the close of that wage month when wages are earned and payable. Administrative forms and accounting statements were treated as aids only. Damages could not be sustained merely because deposits were not aligned with the British calendar month.

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Issues: Whether the expression "within 15 days of the close of every month" in para 38 of the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 1952 refers to the British calendar month or to the wage month adopted by the employer, and whether damages under Section 14B of the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 were leviable on the footing that deposits were delayed.

Analysis: The Court held that the Act and the Scheme do not define "wage month" or require every employer to adopt the British calendar month. Reading Section 2(b) and Section 6 of the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 with para 38 of the Scheme, and keeping in view Section 4 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 and the scheme of monthly contribution based on earnings actually drawn, the Court held that the employer may fix a wage period not exceeding one month. The deposit obligation therefore follows the close of the wage month for which wages are earned and payable, not necessarily the calendar month. The forms and accounting statements were treated as administrative aids and not as controlling the statutory meaning of month.

Conclusion: The relevant month under para 38 is the wage month adopted by the employer, and the impugned damages order could not stand on the footing that the deposits were late merely because they were not made by reference to the British calendar month.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of a statutory definition to the contrary, the contribution period under the EPF Scheme is to be aligned with the wage month for which wages are earned, and not compulsorily with the British calendar month.

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