EPF is one of the main platforms of savings in India fornearly all people working in government and public sector organisations and itis important for every working individual to understand the importance of thisscheme and how it can benefit him or her. The EPFO, is a statutory body of theIndian Government and comes under the labour and employment ministry. It is one of the largest social securityorganisations in the world in terms of members and the volume of financialtransactions undertaken by it. It ismandatory for every organisation that has more than 20 employees on thepayroll. If you are working in anorganisation that has more than 20 employees, and the employer is not givingyou EPF benefit, you can officially complain to the EPF organisation.
Considering the scale and the size of the Employee ProvidentFund Scheme, and also the amount of money involved, a lot of discrepancies areoften seen in its functioning. In India,the total financial corpus managed by the Employee Pension Fund Organisation isin excess of Rs. 2000 billion and there are a total of about 40 millioncontributing and non-contributing members in about 4,50,000establishments.
All employees including casual, part time, daily wage,contract etc are required to be enrolled as members of the fund. EPF takes careof the retirement, medical, housing, educational and many more needs of thefamily members.
The regional Provident Fund Commissioner is providing‘service’ and the subscriber to the EPF scheme can be termed as a ‘consumer’under the CPA. Any delay in dischargingthe money or improper allocation of it can be called a ‘deficiency inservice’. This was held in the case ofRegional Provident Fund Commissioner v. Shiv Kumar Joshi. If the employee feels that he is not gettingproper justice or any relief from the above mentioned authorities as prescribedunder the EPFO than he is free to address his grievance to the consumer courtsin the case of any delay/deficiency in service.
In several cases before the National Commission, it was heldthat an employee is entitled to damages if there has been an unlawful failureor delay in grant or advance to a person from his Provident Fund Account. Justlike the RTI, filing a consumer complaint is a powerful tool for consumers.
A person preferring an appeal to a Tribunal under this Actmay either appear in person or take the assistance of a legal practitioner of hischoice. The office of the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner in Goa is atBhavishya Nidhi Bhavan, 24, Patto Plaza, in Panjim, Goa.
The writer a social scientist and lawyer hasbeen a senior member for 10 years at the Consumer Court in Goa
