Karnataka High Court declares provisions for
'International Workers' in the Employees' Provident
Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
unconstitutional.
In a landmark judgment of Stone Hill Education
Foundation v. Union of India and Ors. (WP No.
18486/2012), the Karnataka High Court
("KHC"), declared certain provisions
regulating the provident fund contributions for international
workers in an establishment, unconstitutional. These are Paragraphs
83 and 43A of the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952
("EPF Scheme") and Employees'
Pension Scheme, 1995 ("EPS")
respectively.
The main objective of the Employees' Provident Funds and
Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 ("EPF
Act") and the two schemes in contention, i.e., the
EPF Scheme and EPS, is to provide social security to the employees
working in factories and other establishments. As per the EPF Act,
an employer is mandated to provide 12% of the employee's wages
as provident fund contributions to the
