Moudgalya Pakala V. The Union of India

WP/5859/2024

AI Insights

The case revolves around the petitioner's request to correct the surname in his EPF account to match the name on his Aadhar card, which is necessary for linking his Aadhar with his PAN and ensuring uninterrupted credit of contributions to his EPF account. The petitioner argued that the correction was initially made due to a clerical error by his employer and not a change of name. The EPFO had previously corrected the surname but later denied a subsequent request for correction, leading to the filing of this writ petition. The court's decision was based on the need for the EPFO to address the petitioner's concerns and ensure compliance with legal requirements for linking Aadhar and PAN.

• Counselvise Citation: [2024] 140 COUNSELVISE.COM (IT) 678917 (HC-TELANGANA)
• Appeal Type: Others
• Pronouncement Date: 18-03-2024
• Assessment Year: misc
• Laws Referred To: Article 226 of the Constitution of India, Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India, Section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961
• Result in Favour of: Others
• Court: HIGH COURT
• Department Lawyers: GADI KUMAR; VIJHAY PUNNA
• Assessee Lawyers: V DEVI
• Keywords: Employees' Provident Fund Organization; Name Correction; Writ of Mandamus; EPF Account; Aadhar and PAN Linking
• Section: 14; 226; 21; 139 AA

Judgement Text

"132521 IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) MONDAY, THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND TWENry FOUR PRESENT THE HONOURABLE MRS JUSTICE SUREPALLI NANDA WRIT PETITION NO:5859 OF 2024 Between: AND 1 Moudgalya Pakala, S/o. P.V. Suryanarayana, Aged 32 years, Occ, Heqd - Market lntelligence and Consumer lnsights, Heritage Foods Ltd.,Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad. Rl/o 8-6, SFC Colony, Venkatagiri, Yusufguda, Hyderabad - 500 045, TS. ...PETITIONER The Union of lndia, Rep. by its Under Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Shram Shakti Bhawan, Rafi Marg, New Delhi. 2. The Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), Rep. by its Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Head Office at Bhavishya Nidhi Bhavan'14- Bhikaii Cama Place, New Delhi - 110 066. 3. The Employees Provident Fund Organization, Regional OJfice 9t Bhavishya . Nidhi Btiavin,3-4-763, Barkatpura ehaman, Hyderabad, Rep. by its Regional Provident Fund Commissioner. 4. M/s. Heritage Foods Limited, Rep. by its Flead of HR Department, Road Nos. 1 & 65, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad. ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue a writ or direction particularly one in the nature of Writ of Mandamus, declaring the action of the Employees Provident Fund Organization (Respondent Nos. 1 to 3)denying to strffix Surname i.e. Pakala to petitioner name Moudgalya, in EPF Account Number APHYD197833000O001 1882 having UAN 100659130590 to read as MOUDGALYA PAKALA as, punitive, perverse, arbitrary, illegial, contrary to the mandates issued by the 1st Respondent herein from time to time, and also violative of Article 14 and 21ol the Constitution of lndia and consequently direct the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (Respondent Nos.1 to 3) to reflect petitioner Name in the official records as MOUDGALYA PAKALA so as to correspond and match with petitioner name as reflected in petitioner Aadhar Card Number 5062 9584 0776 (i.e. by suffixing petitioner surname Takata to name Moudgalya) in order to facilitate credit of employer's and employee's contributions to the EPF Account and/or withdrawals. lA NO: 1 OF 2021 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to direct the Respondent-Employees Provident Fund Authorities concerned (respondent Nos- 1 to 3)to enable employe(s) (presently the 4th Respondent) to remit the employees and employer's contributions towards Employees Provident Fund and also other remittances, though EPF Account is not linked with the nay Aadhar Card; to receive such remittances and credit them to EPF Account bearing Number APHYD19783300000011882 having UAN 100659130590 in the interest of justice. Counsel for the Petitioner: M/s. V. UMA DEVI Counsel for the Respondent No.1: SRI GADI PRAVEEN KUMAR, Dy. SOLICITOR GENERAL OF INDIA Counset for the Respondent No.2 & 3: SRI VIJHAY K PUNNA, SC FOR EPFO The Court made the following: ORDER HON'BLE MRS ]USTICE SUREPALLI NANDA ORDER: Heard V.Uma Devi, learned counsel appearing on behalf of petitioner and Mr'Gadi Praveen Kumar' Dy' of India, aPPearing on behalf of and Mr.VijhaY K Punna, learned for EmPloYees Provident Fund Organisation, appearing on behalf of respondent Nos'2 and 3. PERUSED THE RECORD 2 The Petitioner approached the Court seeking the 5 P Solicitor General respondent No'1 Standing Counsel prayer as under: \"to issue a writ or direction particularly one in the natureofWritofU-inJamus'declaringtheactionof i'ri\"-'-ernpfovu\"t' Provident Fund organisation inlrponobnr ruot' 1 to 3)denviry tg suffix mv Uri\"lr\" i.e. Pakala to my name- Moudgalya' in my EPF Account numoei e'pt{vorg2eg300000011882 [\"ri\"g uAN roooisliosgO to read as MOUDGALYA PAKAI-A as, p,niiiu\", perverse'. arbitrary' illegal' contrary to the .u#ut'\"t issued by the 1 ^ (st) nliponi\"nt herein from time to time' and also violative of Article f4-and 21of the.Constitution of India and .on.\"q'\"nity direct th: Employees' Provident Fund oiganisaiion (Respondent Nos' 1 to 3) to reflect rny -ruut\" in tne official . records as MOUDGALYA PAKA;-to ut to correspond and match 2 *_r\"r# *ff*+ggffi 3. The case of the petitioner, in brief, is as fo[ows: a) The petitioner herein is a contributor to Employees, Provident Fund Scheme with EpF Account No.ApHyD197833OOOOOOt1882 having UAN 100659130590. The peUtionert name is shown in petitioner,s pAN Card as Moudgalya pakala; previousty in Aadhar as and in EpF Account ,. *;. :,^^:\"':t as Pakara Moudsarva the petitioner ,, ,.'t o\"nu'u Moudgalya' In the passport oF Moudgarya. The sub shown as surname:Pakala' Name: being deducteo ,rortfl'\"'on towards petitioner's EPF are emproyer and are beir petitioner's salary by petitioner's ng credited to petitioner,s EpF account every month regularly along with the employers, share. b) It is further the case of the petitioner that initially in his EPF account his surna instead of .pakara,. ,no'u *\"t wrongly entered as 'Pakata' rrefore, in )u ,201g,t was corrected 3 as 'Pakala'. This was merely a correction of a spelling mistake, not any change of name/surname' c) The petitioner further submits that, in the year 2020 the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Department of Revenue' Ministry of Finance, Government of India, had issued a Notification No.11/2020-In Income Tax, dated L3'O2'2O20 G.S.R 112(E) and made it mandatory under Section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961 to link up the Aadhar Number with PAN for Income-Tax Assessee. Since the petitioner's name in Aadhar is shown as Pakala Moudgalya and whereas in PAN it is shown as Moudgalya Pakala, the petitioner's PAN card could not be linked with petitioner's Aadhar Card' Therefore' the petitioner intends to alter petitioner's name in petitioner's Aadhar as 'Moudgalya Pakala' (since such alteration is not permissible in PAN) and then alone petitioner's Aadhar could be linked with Petitioner's PAN' is not Aadhar verified, it If the employee's EPF account may mean the emPloYer's contribution shall not be credited into employees'account' d) It is further the case of the petitioner that, petitioner submitted the Joint Declaration in the new format in the EPF offlce on 07.L2.2023 with all required enclosures with a i ,:-r jl*g&;J,r 4 request to reflect petitioner,s name in petitioner,s EpF Account as 'Moudgalya pakala, to match with petitioner,s name as reflected in petitionert Aadhar. The petitioner joined in the Company i.€., M/s Heritage Foods Limited, new on 71.12.2023. As the petitioner received no orders though one month had elapsed, the petitioner went to EpF Office on 77.01.2024 to enquire about the processing of petitioner,s request. Then, petitioner was informed that since petitioner,s surname was corrected once in 201g, petitioner,s present request for change of name for second time is not permissible and an objection/query was raised in that regard. Till date the petitioner has not received any orders from respondent Nos. 1 to 3 on petitioner,s Joint Declarations dated 76.70.2023 and or 07.12.2023. .Hence, the petitioner approached the court by way of firing the present writ petition. Hence, the petition. PERUSED THE RECORD I I r Ei o r ti 5 s&l \"13. I humbly submit that in July 2018 since my Surname was wrongly entered in my EPF Account as 'PAKATA' not due to my mistake but due to the mistake of my the then employer, at my employer's behest it was corrected as 'PAKAI-Ai. it is only a correction of spelling mistake but not a change of name. I unequivocally submit that even now also I am not seeking any change of my name. My name is MOUDGALYA and it remains as such forever. I am not requesting any change of name. What I am requesting is to suffix my Surname after my NamC tO rCAd it AS MOUDGALYA PAKALA. It cannot be termed as change of name. Therefore, non-consideration of my request on the ground that I am seeking change of my name for second time, is not justifiable, is my benign submission. Bringing all these facts I submitted a representation to the respondent No.3 on 08.02.2024. No orders are received on this representation either. \" 5. It is the specific case of the petitioner that the petitioner is a contributor to Employees Provident Fund Scheme and is having EPF Account number APHYD1976330000011882, having UAN 100659130590 and that the petitioner had submitted a detailed representation, dated 07'02.2024 before the 3d respondent herein seeking to change the name of the petitioner from Pakala Moudgalya to Moudgalya Pakala and the petitioner also filed a Joint Declaration in the new format before the EPF Office on 07.L2.2023 as it is mandatory to link Aadhaar and PF UAN to avoid uninterrupted services such as A 6 withdrawal claims and interest credit etc. and the same had been acknowledged by the 3.d respondent on 07.L2.2023 itself. 6. The learned counsel appear,ng on behalf of respondents submits that, the writ petition courd be disposed of directing the respondent No.3 to consider the petitionert representation, dated 07.02.2024 addressecl to the 3.d respondent seeking change of petitioner,s name in petitioner,s EPF Account from pakala Moudgalya to Moudgalya pakala and pass appropriate orders on the joint declaration Form within a reasonable period. 7. Taking into consideration the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the case and the submissions of the learned Standing counsel for EpFO, appearang on behatf of respondent Nos.2 and 3 and duly taking into consideration the contents in the affidavit filed by the petitioner in support of the present writ petition, in particurar, at paragraph No.13, the writ petition is disposed of directing the respondent Nos. 2 and 3 to consider the representataon of the petitioner seeking suffixing petitioner,s surname to petitionert name I 7 sN,, dated O7.O2.2O24 addressed to the 3d respondent herein in accordance to taw, within a period of two(O2) weeks from the date of receipt of the copy of this order, . and duly communicate the decision to the petitioner. 8. With the above observations the writ petition is disposed of. However, there shall be no order as to costs. Misceilaneous petitions, if any, pending shail stand crosed. AS sD/- AV.S. PRATSAD //TRUE COPY// istsTANT REG|S/RAR SEcTIoN V,,\".* To, 1 2 The Under Secretarv. Ministry of Labour and Employment, The Union of lndia, Shram Shakti Bhawin, Rafi tilarg, frf \"*'O.iii.-\"'\"'\"r\"'\"\" !:ff Hjfu ,(3ijsi*i:,{g[*::r\",.:*iiEsrfflm,zi:,13??,1i,'- The Regional provident pund Commissioner, The Employees provident Fund 3[r,?ljl,l1i;aSisionar office iGri,'i,iinv,\"i,iiiiiiai\"V,\"nle_a_zos, Barkarpura The Head oi HR Deo'artment, M/s. Heritage Foods Limited, Road Nos. 1 and 65, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad 9n\" 99 to M/s. V. 1JMA DEV|, Advocate tOpUCl Fiq''3^liS,fi x,IBlJ#^iEINt;.,\"f_\"5f \".'\"?E?3Ero.*.*,_o. rNDIA [oPUCl Two CD Copi6s 3 4 d 5 6 7 8. BN ts CC TODAY HIGH COURT DATED:1810312024 ORDER WP.No.5859 of 2024 1t f: i. ' .:f i.. .1 + -) c L) 2t DISPOSING OF THE WRIT PETITION WITHOUT COSTS - ^,;a (9 !r- 2 "