Madras: Renowned actor Jayaprada has taken legal action by approaching the Madras High Court to contest a Magistrate court’s ruling that sentenced her to six months of imprisonment. The sentence was imposed due to her failure to fulfill the obligations concerning contributions owed to the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) in relation to employees who had previously worked at a now-defunct cinema theater owned by her.
In August of this year, a Metropolitan Magistrate Court passed this sentence after taking cognizance of a complaint filed by the ESIC. The complaint alleged that although the management of the cinema theater, owned by Jayaprada and her brothers Ramkumar and Raj Babu, had deducted ESI dues from the workers’ wages, they had not remitted these funds to the State Insurance Corporation. Jayaprada Cinema, where the violations occurred, ceased operations approximately a decade ago.
The dispute revolves around Section 40 of the ESI Act, which mandates that the principal employer is responsible for paying both the employer’s and the employees’ share of contributions. The principal employer can recover the employees’ share from their wages.
Justice G Jayachandran, who presided over the case, has issued a notice on Jayaprada’s plea and granted the ESIC one week to file a counter affidavit in response to the actor’s challenge. The judge has also asked Jayaprada’s counsel to clarify whether the outstanding amount of ₹37.68 lakh can be paid within the given timeframe.