To nab defaulters, enrol employees, PF office sets up squads / Dec 22, 2005 / ExpressIndia
From Indiapensions
To nab defaulters, enrol employees, PF office sets up squads
Pune, December 21: EMPLOYERS who are not giving provident fund (PF) procedures benefits to their employees, beware. Pune-based regional provident fund commissioner's office has formed squads to detect and enrol employees who are being denied provident fund membership by employers. The department will also take stern recovery action against defaulters, which involves attachment of properties as well as arrest of employers.
As per the rule book, defaulting means either not registering a company or an establishment under the PF office or registering a company and not passing the PF benefits to its employees. Establishments employing more than 20 employees (direct and indirect) have to register their employees under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Employers are liable to pay 12 per cent of the basic and dearness allowance amount if it is below Rs 6,500, while the rest 12 per cent is paid by the employee.
Regional PF commissioner (I) Francy Joseph said Pune fares well in terms of collection of dues, but there were indications of purposeful evasion by many employers. According to our intelligence reports, evasion is widely prevalent in the outsourcing services. Establishments who outsource their work are also liable for the provident fund dues of the people who are carrying out the outsourced job, he said.
Throwing light on other modes of evasion, Joseph said employers also declare a wrong break up of salary dues to escape PF liability. While the basic pay and dearness allowance is shown to be more than Rs 6,500, the amount paid is actually less. Employees are shown as consultants to bypass the rules, he said.
In addition to the squads, the regional PF commissioner's office will also check with the regulatory bodies that register the newly-formed establishments, so that all employees are covered by the EPFO.
At present, there are 8,565 private and public sector units registered by the regional office of EPFO in Pune district. The regional office covers Pune, Solapur, Latur, Osmanabad, Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli, Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts.
To give information about defaulting employers and problems faced in processing PF documents, one can email rpfcropune@rediffmail.com. The information sent will be kept confidential.
Social security number
THE scheme to provide National Social Security Number (NSSN) cards will be expedited in the Pune district. This card, which has a unique social security number, a photo and a chip embedded in it will facilitate processing of PF-related procedures in case of shifting of jobs. Though 4,000 cards have already been distributed in Pune, the process will be expedited to accommodate all the employees who are liable for PF benefits. Collection of data is scheduled to be completed by March 31.
