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भारत सरकार Government of India
रेल मंत्रालय Ministry of Railways
रेलवे बोर्ड (Railway Board)

RBA.No.46 /2022

No. 2022/ ACII/25/4

New Delhi, dated 14.9.2022.

Principal Financial Advisers,
All Zonal Railways/PUs.

Sub: Misappropriation/ manipulation of PF Ledgers.

A case of misappropriation/manipulation of PF Ledgers has been reported by one of the Zonal Railways.

The modus operandi followed involved the following routes-

• Fraudulent posting of unlinked amounts lying in the account of the Unit (un-posted items), in ledger accounts of certain working employees
• Preparation of fraudulent JVs by debiting Revenue Demand heads with contra credit to the PF head and then posting to PF ledgers of certain employees.
• Fraudulent withdrawal of amount by such employees from their PE account

Prima facie the following acts of omission and commission facilitated the fraud:

• Non implementation of provisions under RBA No. 56/2021 dated 27.10.2021, which emphasises the countersigning of JVs above Rs 1,00,000/- by a JAG officer.
• Weak internal checks- thorough test checks were not carried out, at prescribed intervals,
• Lack of proper scrutiny of unlinked balances, suspense heads
• Sharing of Login IDs/password/OTPs.

To preclude similar occurrences in future, all JVs produced within a unit, which are not supported by transfer transaction certificate, will now be accepted in IPAS only with digital signature of Accounts Officer as per RBA No. 56/2021. Officials concerned may be advised suitably to ensure strict compliance.

Further investigations in the matter are in progress. In the meantime it is desired that-

• Special checks may be carried out on your Railway/ unit to rule out similar incidents, – scrutiny of unlinked balances and Suspense heads
• All Staff may also be sensitised for not sharing their IPAS credentials.
• Extreme precautions to be followed while providing access to officials for different modules in IPAS. Maker- checker principle to be followed at all times

A feedback on the action taken may please be advised to the undersigned, early.

(Ajay Bartwal)
Joint Director Finance (CCA)
Railway Board

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UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 207

ANSWERED ON: 18.07.2022

EPS-95 Scheme

Rajmohan Unnithan
Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:-

(a) whether it is a fact that 30 lakhs of eligible pensioners have not yet received the minimum pension of Rs.1,000 even since introduction of the term PF Pension;

(b) whether the Government has taken steps to review and revise the EPS-95 scheme every ten years and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(c)whether the Supreme Court has constituted a three-member bench to inquire into the non-payment of pensions to the retiring workers and if so, the details thereof; and

(d)whether the Government is working on a comprehensive revision of the PF pension and if so, the details of the plan to implement the same in near future?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI RAMESWAR TELI)

(a): No, Sir.

(b): The Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), 1995 has been framed by the Central Government in accordance with the powers conferred by section 6A of the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions (EPF and MP) Act, 1952. The EPS, 1995 came into force on 19.11.1995. Review and revision of schemes is an ongoing process. The provisions of the EPS, 1995 have been reviewed from time to time based on the recommendations of the Expert Committee and the High Empowered Monitoring Committee as well as taking into account the actuarial evaluation of the Employees’ Pension Fund. Some of the important amendments made in EPS, 1995 are as under:

• (i) Increase in wage ceiling from Rs. 6500/- to Rs.15000/- per month from 01.09.2014.
• (ii) Provision of a minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month to the pensioners under EPS, 1995 from 01.09.2014 by providing additional budgetary support wherever the pension was falling short of Rs.1000 as per pre-defined formula for calculation of pension.
• (iii) Restoration of normal pension after completion of fifteen years from the date of such commutation, in respect of those members who availed the benefit of commutation of pension under the erstwhile paragraph 12A of the EPS, 1995, on or before 25.09.2008 vide notification G.S.R.132(E) dated 20.02.2020.

(c): The Union of India and the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) have challenged the judgement dated 12.10.2018 of Hon”ble Kerala High Court, which set aside the 2014 amendments to the EPS-95, in the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated 24.08.2021 in Special Leave Petition (C) Nos.8658- 8659 of 2019 and other connected cases directed to refer the matters to a Bench of at least three Judges. The matter is now sub-judice.

(d): The Code on Social Security, 2020 (36 of 2020), was notified on 29.09.2020, which subsumes 9 Central labour laws including the EPF and MP Act, 1952. Section 15 of the new Code envisages to frame various schemes including pension for the employees and their family members. However, the said Code has yet to come into force.

Lok Sabha

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Ministry of Labour & Employment

The Central Board recommends 8.10% rate of interest to its subscribers for the year 2021-22

12 MAR 2022

The 230th meeting of Central Board of Trustees, EPF was held today during the AKAM Iconic Week in Guwahati under the Chairmanship of Shri Bhupendra Yadav, Union Minister for Labour & Employment and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Vice-Chairmanship of Shri Rameshwar Teli, Union Minister of State for Labour & Employment, Petroleum & Natural Gas and Co-Chairmanship of Shri Sunil Barthwal, Secretary Labour & Employment and the Member Secretary Smt. NeelamShammi Rao, Central P F Commissioner.

The Central Board recommended 8.10% annual rate of interest to be credited on EPF accumulations in members’ accounts for the financial year 2021-22. The interest rate would be officially notified in the government gazette following which EPFO would credit the rate of interest into its subscribers’ accounts.

EPFO despite following a conservative approach towards investment, has consistently generated high returns over the last many years which has enabled it to distribute higher interest to its subscribers, through various economic cycles with minimal credit risk.

Traditionally, EPFO has been able to give a higher rate of interest on retirement savings in comparison to other available investment options because of its prudent investment policy of investing in long tenor high yielding securities for the past several decades. This has ensured that the returns on EPFO’s investments are higher even when the yields have been steadily coming down in the past decade.

For FY 2022, EPFO decided to liquidate some of its investment in equities and the interest rate recommended is a result of combined income from interest received from debt investment as well as income realized from equity investment. This enabled EPFO to provide a higher return to its subscribers and still allowed EPFO with a surplus to act as a cushion for providing a higher return in the future also. There is no over-drawl on the EPFO corpus due to this income distribution.

The assured fixed return approach of EPFO, announced by CBT every year along with the tax exemptions makes an attractive savings option for the PF members.

PIB

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No. TA-3-07001/7/2021-TA-III-Part(1)/cs8084/70

Ministry of Finance
Department of Expenditure
Office of Controller General of Accounts

Mahalekha Niyantrak Bhawan
E-Block, GPO Complex, INA,
New Delhi
Dated: 25.02.2022

Office Memorandum

Subject: Calculation of taxable interest relating to contribution in a provident fund, exceeding specified limit w.e.f F.Y 2021-22 -reg.

In pursuance of the notification issued by Department of Revenue (CBDT) dated 31st August, 2021, the interest relating to contribution in a provident fund or recognized provided fund, exceeding specified limit of Rs. five lakh in case of employee where GPF is applicable shall be part of taxable income of the subscriber w.ef. Financial year 2021-22 onwards.

2. In view of the aforesaid decision, the respective GPF ledger folio maintained as per CAM-47 & the Annual GPF statement in form CAM-49 respectively with required changes to this effect needs to prepare by PAOs in respective nodal offices in the revised format enclosed with retrospective effect from 01.04.2021 onwards. The same are also made available to ITD for development in PFMS. The necessary amendments in chapter 6 of the Civil Account Manual (CAM) will be issued separately.

3. All the Pr.CCAs/CCAs/CAS(IC) in the Ministries/Departments are required to instruct nodal offices under their control to prepare GPF ledger & Annual statement to be issued to subscribers in the format enclosed.

Encl: As above.

(Ashish Kumar Singh)
Dy. Controller General of Accounts

To,

All Pr. CCAs/CCAs/CAs (IC) of the Ministries/ Deptts. concerned.

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Ministry of Labour & Employment

EPFO Issues Revised Instructions to Facilitate PF Members to Rectify their Birth Records

05 APR 2020

In a move to extend the availability and reach of online services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, EPFO has issued revised instructions to its field offices to facilitate PF members to rectify their date of birth in EPFO records, thus ensuring that their UAN is KYC compliant.

The date of birth recorded in ‘Aadhaar’ will now be accepted as valid proof of date of birth for the purpose of rectification, provided that the difference in the two dates is less than 3 years. The PF subscribers can submit the correction requests online.

This will enable EPFO to validate the date of birth of members online with UIDAI instantaneously, thus authenticating and reducing the processing time of change requests.

EPFO has instructed field offices to expedite disposal of online requests, enabling PF members in financial distress, to apply online for availing non refundable advance from their PF accumulations to tide over the COVID-19 pandemic.

PIB

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No.II/57/Part I

Dated: 08/05/2018

The Secretary (E),
Railway Board,
New Delhi

Dear Sir,

Sub: TA/DA, PF, Pass, Medical and accommodation facilities to the contract Para-Medical Staff working in Railways-reg.

Federation is thankful to the Railway Board for issuing instructions vide letter No. 2017/Trans/01/Policy/Pt. I dated 12/04/2018 to revise the remuneration of Para-Medical Staff on contracts basis working in the Railway Health Units/Hospitals on Indian Railways.

Federation however feels that the Para-Medical Staff, working on contract basis deserve to be granted following facilities which are presently denied to them:-

• No TA/DA is paid to these staff when they are sent on duty to other places,
• No Provident Fund is deducted from their monthly remuneration and credited to respective EPFO,
• These staff are not granted the facility of Pass/PTo, Medical, accommodation etc., though they have been performing duties similar to the regular Para-Medical Railway Staff. They are also not provided periodic rest other than Sunday while they have been performing duties of 12 hours in a day.

Federation also contends that the Para-Medical Staff working on contract basis are entitled for above facilities in terms of the extant provisions of Contract Labour R&A Act, 1970.

NFIR, therefor, requests the Railway Board to kindly consider above points and issue instructions to the GMs of Zonal Railways to grant facilities to the Para-Medical Staff working on contract basis and mitigate their hardships.

A copy of instructions issued may also be endorsed to the Federation.

Yours faithfully,

S/d,
(Dr.M.Raghavaiah)
General Secretary

Source: NFIR

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A Conference on Portability from Superannuation and recognized Provident Funds to National Pension System (NPS) was organized by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) in coordination with Willis Towers Watson in national capital. The Prime objective of the Conference was to provide a knowledge base platform to the Corporate by providing solutions to address the issues / challenges of portability of superannuation funds to NPS.

160 participants comprising Corporate, Points of Presence (POPs), Pension Funds, Central Record Keeping Agencies (CRAs) participated in the Conference.

Dr. B. S. Bhandari, Whole Time Member (Economics), PFRDA, highlighted the need to expand the coverage of NPS in an efficient and sustainable way. He asserted the fact that there are more employees in the Corporate – Private sector than in the government sector and hence there is a great potential for NPS in the corporate sector. PFRDA has been constantly engaging with its stake holders in the NPS and has been working with industry associations for promotion of NPS in the Corporate – Private sector. To make NPS entry easy and the interface user friendly, various modifications have been carried out in the product.

Shri Rohit Jain, Head, Willis Towers Watson (India), speaking on the occasion, told that the average life expectancy of persons in India has risen and hence there is a greater need for a retirement / pension product for all. Traditional pension products cover only 30% of the population. In this changing scenario there is a latent demand for product like NPS as there is no universal pension product.

Shri Hemant Contractor, Chairman, PFRDA in his key note address, informed that, earlier, people used to retire from the same job not only in the government sector but also in private sector. With opening up of economy people started getting more job opportunities switching jobs suitable to their skills and talents. Job switching has become more frequent and people seek more controls on their finances, when they start moving jobs and place from one to another. The concept of portability came in and people started thinking about having better control on their retirement savings.

Defined Benefit Pension schemes, which were predominant, became unsustainable not only for the government sector but also for the private sector because of various factors. A Defined Contribution scheme was therefore launched in 2004 which was initially only for Central Government employees, but which was later extended to State Government employees and later to the private sector. This scheme is the National Pension System (NPS), which is regulated by PFRDA.

NPS addressed the concerns of subscribers relating to portability and freedom of choice, and gradually started to pick up momentum in the private sector. The other features of NPS, namely, low cost, attractive returns, transparency, flexibility and domain expertise in each area of pension activity were the other factors which appealed to the private sector. Innovations and changes are made from time to time in the NPS product and processes, some recent examples being, introduction of two new life cycle funds, inclusion of alternative assets in investment portfolio, online entry and exit etc.

The entry age to NPS is now proposed to be increased to 65 years from 60 years and there is an option to continue up to age of 70 years.

The Chairman also mentioned that NPS should also be explored, as an additional retirement benefit, for corporates where superannuation funds are not available and employees are covered only under the mandatory EPFO schemes.

He highlighted the growth of 47% in AUM and 26% in number of subscribers in the last financial year (2016-17). He also made a reference to Atal Pension Yojana, the pension platform available for unorganized segment through Government of India / PFRDA and its year on year growth indicating the underlying demand for pension products in India.

During the conference, a panel discussion comprising industry experts such as Willis Towers Watson, HDFC Pension Funds, Siemens Limited, Vedanta Group and NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited eyeing the opportunities, addressing the challenges / issues and preparation of necessary guidelines on superannuation funds and NPS portability was conducted.

In the second half, a Conference for Point of Presence (PoPs), the distribution channel for NPS, was conducted.

Shri Hemant Contractor, Chairman, PFRDA, in his keynote address stressed on the need for robust distribution of the NPS through the current distribution network being managed by POPs which are Banks and other financial institutions. He also laid emphasis on the fact that, the key to last mile connectivity is increased distribution network by the POPs by registration and activation of more branches and through awareness campaigns. He informed that PFRDA has empanelled IL&FS Skill Development Corporation Limited as its training agency to impart training on NPS to POPs and Corporate and urged the POPs to utilise the services of the Training Agency for training of their staff member on NPS.

During this conference, awards were distributed to the POPs, for their performance in FY 2016-17 under various categories.

Currently, NPS has more than 1.71 crore subscribers with total Asset under Management (AUM) of more than Rs. 2.04 lakh crores.

PIB

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The Government vide notification no. G.S.R. 1065 (E) dated 11.11.2016 has amended paragraph 72(6) of the Employees’ Provident Funds (EPF) Scheme, 1952 wherein changes have been made in the conditions leading to a Provident Fund (PF) account becoming an Inoperative Account. As per amended definition of Inoperative Account (w.e.f. 11.11.2016), an account becomes inoperative after the age of 58 years, i.e., 36 months after the retirement age of 55 years. The details of inoperative accounts and amounts involved therein, consequent upon implementation of the above notification, have not been ascertained by Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) presently as the date of birth in respect of many employees is not available in the EPFO database presently.

As per paragraph 60(6) of EPF Scheme, 1952, interest shall not be credited to the account of a member from the date on which it has become an inoperative account under paragraph 72(6) of EPF Scheme, 1952. However, as per amended definition, an account shall be classified as Inoperative after the member attains the age of 58 years. Hence, interest shall be credited to the account of a member upto the age of 58 years.

This information was given by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya the Minister of State (IC) for Labour and Employment, in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha, today.

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No: WSU/39(1)2017/Housing Scheme/4106

Date: 24.05.2017

To
All Addl. CPFC (HQ/ Zone),
Regional P.F. Commissioners-incharge of
Regional Offices.

Sub: Withdrawal under paragraph 68-BD of EPF Scheme, 1952 for housing needs of the PF members.
Ref: HO circular dated of even numbers dated 21.04.2017, 02.05.2017 & 19.05.2017

Sir,
Please refer to the above said subject.

2. There are a number of State Housing Boards or other authorities owned by the Government which construct and sell houses. In certain cases their houses remain unsold. Considering this, it is advised that RPFCs-incharge of ROs should contact all such Housing Board/authorities in their jurisdiction and persuade them for allotment of such unsold houses directly to the PF Workers’ Cooperative Societies but EPFO shall not recommend or be associated in the agreement with any particular housing agency/housing society. RPFCs should also discuss the issue with PF Workers’ Union and employers of establishments for formation of cooperative societies so that the concerned society may also negotiate with such Housing Board/ authorities.

3. Accordingly, it is advised that provisions of paragraph 68-BD of EPF Scheme, 1952 be given due focus and publicity by all such possible means in the interest of the workers.

Yours faithfully,

S/d,
(K.L. Taneja)
Addl. Central P.F. Commission (Housing)

Source: epfindia.gov.in

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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 3931

ANSWERED ON: 27.03.2017

Death Claims

G. HARI
Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:-

(a) whether the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) proposes to settle PF money claimed after death of an employee within seven days from 20 days at present;

(b)if so, the details thereof;

(c)whether all the death cases claims will be given top priority and officers in charge at all EPF offices will personally monitor such claims on day-to-day basis; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
(SHRI BANDARU DATTATREYA)

(a) & (b): As per paragraph 72(7) of the Employees’ Provident Funds (EPF) Scheme, 1952, the claim complete in all respects submitted along with the requisite documents shall be settled and benefit amount paid to the beneficiaries within 20 days from the date of its receipt by the Commissioner. The field offices of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) have been directed to settle claims in cases of deaths within seven days of receipt of such claims.

(c) & (d): Yes, Madam. Public Relation Officer and officials in the Facilitation Centres of EPFO have been instructed to scrutinise the claim forms received in respect of death cases and guide the claimants for submission of all required documents in one go only. An official has been specially earmarked to handle such claims. Regional Provident Fund Commissioners have been directed to personally monitor the death cases on day-to-day basis.

Loksabha Q&A

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