About 97,000 PF members, pensioners to benefit by pension on higher wages

EPFO expects nearly 97,640 PF members to benefit from pension on higher wages, based on Supreme Court judgment

Nearly 97,640 PF (Provident Fund) members and pensioners under the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995, across the country are expected to benefit with pension on higher wages (PoWH). 

The overall figure has been arrived at by adding the number of persons (8,401) who have been issued pension payment orders (PPO) with the tally of persons (89,235) who have been sent demand notices. Only in respect of those found eligible for pension on higher wages in compliance with the judgment of the Supreme Court in November 2022, the demand notices are being sent, requiring the prospective beneficiaries to transfer their share of arrears. 

Also read: The woes of pensioners and PF members

This information has been culled from a reply of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organistaion (EPFO) under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to K.P. Babu, a Chennai resident, who had sought the details on the implementation of the judgment.  

According to the reply, which was based on the status as on August 7, only two pre-2014 retirees have been given higher pension while the remaining 8,399 belong to the category of who were members as on September 1, 2014.  Likewise, the break-up for those who have been sent demand notices is: 16 under the first category and 89,219 under the second. 

A total of 17,148,775 applications were received, of which around 13.38 lakh belonged to those who were members as on September 1, 2014.  Of about 1.48 lakh applications rejected, 1.12 lakh were from the pre-2014 retirees.