Ranchi, Dec. 10: Jharkhand High Court today bailed out Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) Ltd by barring the Employees Provident Fund Commissioner (EPFC) from taking any coercive action against it. The EPFC had passed an order to attach the bank account of the Ranchi-based company.

The court of Justice R.K. Merathia, while hearing the corporation’s petition, directed the EPFC and the Union government to file their respective affidavits on the matter. The case will be again heard on January 21 next year. Till then, HEC can continue to operate its bank account.

The EPFC had claimed a sum of Rs 95.01 crore from the public sector unit as damages for its failure to deposit provident fund (PF) money deducted from the salaries of its employees. Despite several reminders, the HEC failed to pay the damages.

As a result, on December 2, the EPFC passed an order to attach the PSU’s bank account at SBI’s Hatia branch. The bank was intimated of the outstanding dues by the EPFC with a request to seal the account till payments are cleared. Accordingly, the branch manager put a freeze on cash flow after informing HEC’s finance officer.

“This is a 23-year-old case. Between 1976 and 1999, there were many defaults in depositing PF money. The corporation was waging a survival battle during this period. It was declared a sick company and referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction for financial reconstruction,” HEC CMD G.K. Pillai told The Telegraph.