Staff provident fund organization
The central government has told in Parliament that a large number of lakhs submitted under the High Pension Scheme of EPFO have been rejected. People’s expectations were fixed on this much talked about plan of Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), but the latest figures are seen to be turning on them.
Union Minister of State for Labor Shobha Karandalaje told the Rajya Sabha that EPFO has received 15.24 lakh applications so far. Of these, the process of 98.5% applications has been completed. But the most surprising thing is that more than 11 lakh of these applications have been canceled. Only 4 lakh forms have been passed, while about 21,995 applications are currently in the process.
At present, the government did not explain why such a large number of forms were rejected. Nor did it be clarified when the process of remaining applications will be completed. According to the report, 63,026 applications were rejected in Chennai and Puducherry region.
The race for expectations started after the Supreme Court’s decision
The discussion on EPFO’s high pension scheme intensified when the Supreme Court gave an important verdict on 4 November 2022. The court had said that the employees who had joined the EPF scheme before 1 September 2014 and later remained in the job or retired, they can choose to get pension on the basis of their entire salary.
This decision was considered relief for millions of employees, which were dissatisfied with the EPS pension limit over years. Earlier, the maximum pension was limited to a salary of Rs 15,000, but after this order there was hope that now pension can be received on the basis of full salary.
EPFO started online process
Following the SC decision, EPFO launched an online portal on 26 February 2023, where employees and pensioners could apply for high pension. Initially the last date for application was kept on 3 May, which was extended to 26 June 2023. After this, companies were also given a chance to upload salary details of their employees.
However, it is clear that so many applications are dismissed that either the process was not explained correctly or there was a huge flaw in the confirmation of the documents and the data. This can also cause heavy dissatisfaction between pensioners and employees.
Who can take advantage of high pension?
Only those employees will get the benefit of EPFO’s Higher Pension Scheme who fulfill some fixed conditions. The first condition is that the employee has joined the EPF scheme before 1 September 2014. Second, that person is currently in a job or has retired, both will be considered eligible in situations. The third important condition is that the employee has already chosen the option of contributing on the basis of his entire salary in the EPS, or now wants to choose that option.
That is, who has contributed or expressed his desire to give according to his entire salary, not only according to the fixed limit (₹ 15,000) in the EPS, he is eligible for this scheme. Under this scheme, pension is calculated based on the total service period and contribution of the employee. According to the rules, the eligible employee can get more money than the general EPS pension.
What is the EPS-95 scheme?
EPS-95 i.e. Employees Pension Scheme, 1995 is the plan of EPFO under which the employees of the organized sector get pension after retirement. Although a limit was fixed, even if an employee’s salary was more than Rs 15,000, pension was still fixed on the basis of this limit. There was a dispute about this for years and the employees demanded that they got pension based on their actual salary. The Supreme Court gave guidance in this direction and the EPFO then started the application process.