Provident fund dues are outside the liquidation estate and must be considered separately in stakeholder distributions.

Provident fund contribution, interest and damages under the Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 were treated as statutory dues outside the liquidation estate under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, so they need not be filed as claims in Form G. The scheme also recognised priority for provident fund dues, including the first charge claimed under provident fund law, and the liquidator was required to take the EPFO's communicated claim into account while determining stakeholder payments in liquidation.

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Issues: Whether the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's dues are required to be filed in Form G before the liquidator and whether the liquidator must consider those dues while determining payments to stakeholders in liquidation.

Analysis: The dues towards provident fund contribution, interest and damages under the Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 are statutory dues. Such dues do not form part of the liquidation estate under Section 36(4)(a)(iii) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and therefore need not be submitted as claims in Form G. The statutory scheme also recognises priority in payment of provident fund dues, including the first charge asserted under the provident fund law. On that basis, the liquidator was required to take note of the EPFO's communicated claim while working out the amounts payable to stakeholders.

Conclusion: The EPFO's claim was held to be outside the Form G claim process, and the liquidator was directed to consider the EPFO dues while determining stakeholder payments.

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