EPFO, HEAD OFFICE
MINISTRY OF LABOUR & EMPLOYMENT, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
BHAVISHYA NIDHI BHAWAN, 14, BHIKAIJI CAMA PLACE, NEW DELHI 11oo66
www.epfindia.gov.in
No. Pension/2022/56259/654/ Date: 20.02.2023
To
All Addl. CPFCs, Zonal Offices
All RPFCs / OlCs, Regional Offices
Sub: Instructions in compliance of orders contained in Para 44 (iii) & (iv) read with Para 44(v) of Hon’ble Supreme Court judgement dated 04.11.2022 in the matter of Special Leave Petition (C) Nos. 8658-8659 of 2019.
Madam/ Sir,
In compliance of the above said orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and directions of the Central Government, it is directed as under:
2. The field offices should implement the directions contained in Para 44(iii) & (iv) read with Para 44(v) of the judgement dated 04.11.2022 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court within the stipulated timeline.
3. As may be seen, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has pronounced judgement dated 04.11.2022 in the matter of Special Leave Petition (C) Nos. 8658-8659 of 2019. The relevant directions of the Court with respect to the above-mentioned subject are as follows:
“44 (iii) The employees who had exercised option under the proviso to paragraph 11(3) of the 1995 scheme and continued to be in service as on 1st September 2014, will be guided by the amended provisions of paragraph 11(4) of the pension scheme”.
“44(iv) The members of the scheme, who did not exercise option, as contemplated in the proviso to paragraph 11(3) of the pension scheme (as it was before the 2014 Amendment) would be entitled to exercise option under paragraph 11(4) of the post amendment scheme. Their right to exercise option before 1st September 2014 stands crystallised in the judgment of this Court in the case of R. C. Gupta (supra). The scheme as it stood before 1st September 2014 did not provide for any cut-off date and thus those members shall be entitled to exercise option in terms of paragraph 11(4) of the scheme, as it stands at present. Their exercise of option shall be in the nature of joint options covering pre-amended paragraph 11(3) as also the amended paragraph 11(4) of the pension scheme. There was uncertainty as regards validity of the post amendment scheme, which was quashed by the aforesaid judgments of the three High Courts. Thus, all the employees who did not exercise option but were entitled to do so but could not due to the interpretation on cut-off date by the authorities, ought to be given a further chance to exercise their option. Time to exercise option under paragraph 11(4) of the scheme. under these circumstances, shall stand extended by a further period of four months. We are giving this direction in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. Rest of the requirements as per the amended provision shall be complied with”.
“44 (v) The employees who had retired prior to 1st September 2014 without exercising any option under paragraph 11(3) of the pm-amendment scheme have already exited from the membership thereof They would not be entitled to the benefit of this judgment “
4. Accordingly, the employees who did not exercise option as contemplated in the proviso to paragraph 11(3) of the Pension Scheme (as it was before the 2014 Amendment) would be entitled to exercise joint option under erstwhile para 11(3) & existing para 11(4) within the aforesaid extended period of four months. The employees who had exercised option under Para 11(3) of EPS 1995 and continued to be in service on or after 01.09.2014 will be guided by the amended provisions of paragraph 11(4) of the pension scheme, i.e. if they had not exercised the option within the time specified under Para 11(4), such employees shall not be eligible to exercise option within the extended period of four months.
5. Therefore, in compliance of the Hon’ble Supreme Court judgement dated 04.11.2022, following employees with their employers may submit joint option under para 11(3) and 11(4) to the concerned Regional Office:
i. The employees and employers who had contributed under paragraph 26(6) of EPF Scheme on salary exceeding the prevalent wage ceiling of Rs 5000/- or 6500/-; and
ii. did not exercise joint option under the proviso to Para 11(3) of the pre-amendment scheme (since deleted) while being members of EPS,95; and
iii. were members prior to 01.09.2014 and continued to be a member on or after 01.09.2014.
6. The manner in which such employees would apply to the concerned Regional Office is as follows:
i. The request will be made in such form and manner, as may be specified by the Commissioner.
ii. The joint option will contain the disclaimer and declaration as may be specified therein.
iii, In case of share requiring adjustment from Provident Fund to Pension Fund, and if any re-deposit to the fund, explicit consent of the employee will be given in the joint option form.
iv. In case of transfer of funds from exempted provident fund trust to pension fund of EPFO, an undertaking of the trustee shall be submitted. The undertaking shall be to the effect that due contribution along with interest up to the date of payment, will be deposited within the specified period.
v. In case of employees of unexempted establishments, refund of requisite employer’s share of contribution, the same shall be deposited with interest at the rate declared under Para 60 of EPF Scheme, 1952, till the date of actual refund.
vi. The method of deposit and that of computation of pension will follow through subsequent circular.
vii. Aforesaid joint option must contain the proof of remittance of employer’s share in Provident Fund on higher wages exceeding the prevalent wage ceiling of Rs. 5,000/6,500 and proof of joint option under Para 26(6) of EPF Scheme duly verified by the employer.
7. The above application forms when received in the time period specified in the Joint Option Form will be dealt with in the following manner by the Regional P.F. Commissioner:
i. A facility will be provided for which URL will be informed shortly. Once received, the Regional P. F. Commissioner shall put up adequate notice on the notice board and banners for wider public information.
ii. Each application will be registered and digitally logged. The receipt number will be provided to the applicant.
iii. The application will land into the employer’s login whose verification with Digital Signature/ e-sign will be essential for further processing.
iv. RPFC will cause each application to be converted into e-file, as far as possible.
v. The concerned dealing assistant will examine the papers including the note on receipt of due amount in the Pension Fund, and mark the case to Section Supervisor / Account Officer.
vi. The concerned SS / AO will mark out discrepancies, if any and send it after due examination, with the rule position to APFC / RPFC-I1 for deciding the case.
vii. The concerned APFC/RPFC-II shall examine each case of joint option on higher salary and the decision shall be intimated to the applicant through e-mail/post. Efforts will be made to intimate them through telephone/SMS also.
8. Officer-in charge of the concerned Regional Office will send a weekly monitoring report to the respective zonal office. Zonal Office will also report the aggregate position of the zones weekly to the Pension Division at Head Office.
9. Any grievance by the applicant can be registered on EPFiGMS after submission of his joint option form and payment of due contribution, if any. The registration of such grievance shall be under specified category of higher pension with reference to Supreme Court Judgment dated 04.11.2022. All such grievances shall be addressed and disposed of at the level of Nominated Officer. Grievances will be monitored by the Officer in-charge of Regional Office and Zonal Office.
10. These directions are issued in compliance of the judgement dated 04.11.2022 of Hon’ble Supreme Court for immediate implementation.
11. This circular is being issued in addition to earlier instructions dated 29.12.2022 & 05.01.2023 issued on this subject.
[This issues with the approval of CPFC.]
Yours faithfully
(Aprajita Jaggi)
Regional PF Commissioner-I (Pension)
Copy To:
1. PS to Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment.
2. Under Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Labour & Employment with reference to letter No. R-15011/03/2022-SS-II dated 15.02.2023.
3. PS to CPFC.
4. All ACCs HQ and ACCs at H.0 for information & necessary action. Further for online applications, URL may please be informed to field offices by ISD.
5. Rajbhasha section for providing Version in Hindi.
We have not taken permission from EPFO under section 26(6) and we are continuing deduct PF of employees on the higher wages and eps contribution on epfo ceiling wages from EPFO ceiling wages since 1995. Please give advise to us for eligibility of higher pension.
We have not taken permission from EPFO under section 26(6) and we are continuing deduct PF of employees on the higher wages and eps contribution on epfo ceiling wages from EPFO ceiling wages since 1995. Please give advise to us for eligibility of higher pension.
Could you please guide,
1. If an employee has joined post Sept 2014 and contributing higher amount to PF and EPS is restricted to 15K p.m. would he be allowed to contribute higher EPS amount in future.
2. If a person has changed employment in the past (after Sept 2014) and in one case he contributes higher PF amount and in another case he contributes based on 15K of salary, how should he plan his future course.
I need my higher old EPS 95 pension amount on my medical grounds of heart Disease with pace maker and Parkinson problem Thanks Parvez Zaki
RETIREMENT
Just sharing few points on the EPF SCHEMES which is in the hearing process with the Hon’ble SC. It seems like the epf authorities have issued circular with fresh set of instructions for employees who had not opted for pension contributions at a higher wage than wage ceiling and continued to be in service on or after September 1, 2014. 👉👉it’s not for all oldage people who were members of PF/EPF and got retired prior to Sept 1,2014.👉basically the circular of 20th February 2023 is in compliance with the Supreme Court of India guidelines order whereby the Supreme Court asked the EPFO to give further chance to those employees who could not opt as per the section or clause 11(4) of the Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995, that is the only issue here. 👉The para five of the circular very clearly says that only those people who were contributing at a higher rate to the Employees’ Provident Fund in 2014 are eligible.
Secondly, those employees who did not or forgot to exercise the option are the only employees who can now exercise the option.
The number of such employees may not be very high because not many employees were paying at a higher amount under section 26(6) of the EPF scheme who forgot to exercise the option.
employees’ pension scheme is a defined benefit scheme. Basically it is for the employees who are drawing the maximum basic salary of Rs 15,000. 👉will get roughly a pension of Rs 7,500 per month and this pension continues even after your death to the family.
It is also available to the handicapped children or the dependent children till they acquire the age of 25.
Therefore, it is really a welfare measure. 👉on the other side this type of facility was not available to the employees drawing a basic salary of more than Rs 15,000. 👉Now it has been allowed to some extent by the Supreme Court because that is the reading of the clause 11(4) of the Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995.👉 by applying the above in principle
If somebody has contributed at a higher wage at that point of time in 2014 and wants to get into the EPS 1995 Scheme, then with the present calculation, if he is retiring at a wage of say Rs 1 lakh, he will get a pension of Rs 50,000.
So that way, the pension will increase sizeably. He will get a very good pension with the present guidelines, but the guidelines may change… it’s just assumptions and no clarity in the Gov’t stand.. 👉The EPFO has still not clarified as to what pensions these people will get because there is an issue of 1.16% contribution that the Supreme Court has kept open.👉 the whole matter is just a high was for the everyone of working class people and retired pensioners whose contributions are blocked ages together and provide peenuts a smaller percentage of drop water in the ocean.👉assuming that naturally the present guidelines will exist or the present guidelines as on the 2014 scheme will exist, then you can say the present defined benefits scheme under the employees pension scheme will continue.👉assuming that naturally the present guidelines will exist or the present guidelines as on the 2014 scheme will exist, then you can say the present defined benefits scheme under the employees pension scheme will continue.👉assuming that naturally the present guidelines will exist or the present guidelines as on the 2014 scheme will exist, then you can say the present defined benefits scheme under the employees pension scheme will continue.👉 it is an opportunity to all those people, all those members who might want to opt for this.
Those people who are eligible, should opt for it.
👇👇👇👇👇👇My point is that how many of the youngsters of our next generation of them are aware of this PF/EPF scheme. They should be advised properly and guide them through a a discussions and to advise to plan their PF/EPF accounts etc etc. well managed and updated their contribution reconciliation nominee and address updations etc etc.
dear sir,
date of joining 01/01/1983 and 31/03/2009 is exit date but retirement year is 01/01/2015 ,26 year deduction of PF can i eligible to higher pension ,current time 1750 /rs amount met by pension
Sir, Regarding apply for getting Higher Pension EPS95, my Company M/s. INDIAN OIL CORP. LTD., [ R & P }, NEW DELHI is exempted trust – EST iD
” DLCPM0001338000″ . I retired from my Company in 30.09.2014 [60 years age] i.e. Pension start from my 58 years age, from 14.09.2012. Please advised whether I have to submit this above subjected HIGHER PENSION EPS95 scheme form directly to EPFO office or thru. my employer – IOCL.Regards, DILIP D GANDHI, VADODARA – 390006.