Employees' PF/ESIC deposit timing requires verification against actual salary disbursement dates before determining statutory compliance.

Timely deposit of employees' PF/ESIC contributions may require determining the prescribed due date from the month of actual salary disbursement rather than the salary period to which the payment relates. As the salary-disbursement dates and corresponding contribution deposits had not been examined, factual verification was required. The issue was restored to the Assessing Officer for fresh determination in accordance with law, after allowing the assessee an opportunity to furnish supporting evidence.

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Issues: Whether employees' contributions to PF/ESIC were deposited within the prescribed due dates when the due date is reckoned from the month of actual salary disbursement.

Analysis: The assessee's plea that the due date should be determined with reference to the month in which salary was actually paid, rather than the salary period to which it related, had not been examined by the Assessing Officer or the first appellate authority. Applying the approach adopted in a coordinate-bench decision, factual verification of the salary-disbursement dates and corresponding deposits was required.

Conclusion: The question of timely deposit of employees' PF/ESIC contributions was restored to the Assessing Officer for fresh determination in accordance with law after allowing the assessee an opportunity to furnish evidence.

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