Higher pension: EPFO to wait for number of applicants before releasing calculation process
The Hindu
Even as the last date to file joint options to claim higher Provident Fund pension ends on May 3, the Centre has decided to wait for the total number of applicants before releasing the procedures to calculate the pension and the share of employees.
Even as the last date to file joint options to claim higher Provident Fund pension ends on May 3, the Centre has decided to wait for the total number of applicants before releasing the procedures to calculate the pension and the share of employees. The amendments to the Employees’ Pension Scheme of 1995 to decide the future of the Centre’s budgetary support of 1.16% of wages to the higher pension of a member of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is also likely to take time. Both decisions are important for implementing the Supreme Court order of November 4, 2022, on the higher PF pension.
A senior government functionary told The Hindu that the calculation will be done once there is an assessment of the total applicants. “We will work out the calculation based on the number of applicants,” he said, adding that an assessment can be made about the government’s contribution and EPFO’s role only after looking at the total number of applicants. When asked about the amendments to the EPS 1995 for clarity on the contribution of the employee and the government, he said the Centre is working on it. “The Union Labour Ministry is working on it,” he added.
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The pensioners, the employers and trade unions have been seeking clarity, including proper methods of calculation, before the submission of joint options. “Basically, the EPFO has left the task of calculation to the employers. The work which EPFO had to do is being shifted to the shoulders of employers,” said pensioners’ rights activist Parveen Kohli. Mr. Kohli said the pensioners’ groups would help the employers to prepare the total amount payable, interest and other components that are needed for claiming higher PF pension.
Mr. Kohli said the EPFO had not opened its cards. “They are lingering the works on. We doubt that they are trying to change the nature of the scheme. We have to see the amendments to the EPS when it is brought to Parliament. No one knows their plan. The employees and pensioners will suffer in this process,” he added.
The EPFO had extended the time to submit the options till May 3 as the Supreme Court-set deadline for submitting the joint options with employers ended on March 3. “The joint option for employees who were in service prior to September 1, 2014, and continued to be in service on or after September 1, 2014, but could not exercise joint option under the Employees’ Pension Scheme can do so now on or before May 3, 2023,” the EPFO said on its website. There is a separate web link for employees who retired before September 1, 2014 to validate their joint options with the employer.
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