The issue of priority of dues as provided under Section 11(2) of the EPF & MP Act has been decisively upheld by the Supreme Court in SLP 15243 of 2007 between Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank versus Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner and others ? The landmark judgment delivered on October 9, 2009, has effectively nullified the provisions of Sarfaesi Act 2002 as priority of EPF dues is settled against all statutory as well as non-statutory and secure as well as unsecure debts including a mortgage or pledge ? To safeguard interests of the lending banks, banks are advised to obtain certificate from the borrowers, auditors on an annual basis that all statutory dues, including EPF dues have been paid by the borrower. In the light of the above, the news item in FE on February 13 (EPFO may be allowed to use Sarfaesi Act to recover dues) has not taken cognisance of the judgment of Supreme Court granting overriding priority to EPF dues over all other debts.
PK Udgata
Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner (Compliance)
Gas prices
Apropos of the editorial ?Obdurate EC? (FE, March 24), I disagree with the stand taken by the newspaper. The Election Commission has rightly stayed the decision to raise gas prices; the reason for which has been stated as getting them in line with international prices and stop losses to oil companies in the country. However, it is equally important to see that the time for such a decision was chosen to be April 2014, bang before the national elections, to woo corporates who would earn windfall gains from this hike while the economy would spiral into a severe debt of inflation. India’s per capita income is not so high that we can absorb this hike. Plus, it is widely speculated to be a gambit of Reliance. It can also be the case that Reliance may have arm-twisted the oil ministry to get its way.
Gaurav Gupta
New Delhi
Training differently
The column ?The main course? (FE, March 23) by Shamik Chakrabarty on the current T20 cricket World Cup artfully accounts the plight of the players. With regard to India, the recent fiascos in South Africa, New Zealand and the Asia Cup bring to the fore the need to train our players to bowl and bat even better on bouncing tracks ? our batsmen play a spin attack quite well but struggle to play rising deliveries. Creating artificial wickets replicating the pitches of different cricket grounds across the world and training on them is really required. It is time to modernise our cricketers?s training.
NR Nagarajan
Sivakasi
