Karnataka High Court stays arrest warrant against Robin Uthappa in PF fraud case

The Karnataka High Court Tuesday temporarily stayed an arrest warrant against former India cricketer Robin Uthappa in connection with an alleged case of Provident Fund (PF) fraud..A Vacation Bench presided by Justice Suraj Govindaraj granted interim protection to Uthappa and stayed the arrest warrant and all related proceedings in the case against him.The order was passed after Uthappa approached the Court seeking quashing of recovery notices and the arrest warrant issued against him in the case.On December 4 this year, the Regional PF Commissioner and Recovery Officer had directed the Bengaluru police to execute the arrest warrant against Uthappa and the police had issued such warrant on December 21..The dispute pertains to a private firm, Centaurus Lifestyle Brands, in which Uthappa served as a director between 2018 and 2020.As per the initial notice issued to Uthappa by the Regional PF authorities, Centaurus Lifestyle had been deducting PF contributions from employees' salaries but not depositing the funds into their accounts. The company owes around ₹23.36 lakh in damages..However, Senior Advocate Prabhuling Navadgi, who appeared for Uthappa, told the Court on Tuesday that the cricketer had formally resigned as the Director of the firm in May 2020. Besides, Navadgi said that even when Uthappa had been serving as the director at Centaurus Lifestyle, as per his contract with the founder, one Krishnadas Thandanand Havade, he was not involved in any day-to-day operations of the company.The Senior Counsel further told the Court that on December 22 this year, Uthappa had informed the authorities that he was no longer a Director and was not involved in any management or day to day operations of the company and therefore, he cannot be considered as an “employer” under the EPF Act..Senior Advocate Prabhuling Navadgi, assisted by advocates Chintan Chinappa, Sushant Belvet, and Venkatesh Kamath appeared for Robin Uthappa, the petitioner in the case.