As the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) yet to come out with guidelines after the Supreme Court judgment on higher pension, the All India EPF Staff Federation in a letter to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner has asked for issuance of details about the legal position being adopted, calculation formula for pension, and options for subscribers who retired after September 2014.
In a letter dated November 29 to CPFC Neelam Shami Rao, the Federation’s Secretary General R Krupakaran said that many pensioners are visiting the regional EPF offices with various queries regarding the judgment.
“However, the Pension Division of Head Office is yet to issue any direction/guidelines so as to deal with the higher pension cases in line with the SC order. In the absence of such guidelines, the PRO wings in the field offices find it difficult to deal with such enquiries,” it said.
The federation has asked for increasing staff as they expect a manifold rise in workload once the order is implemented. “…and the existing staff at Pension Cell would not able to handle such a situation in addition to their normal hectic work,” it added.
On November 4, the SC in a ruling upheld the Employees’ Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014, allowing another opportunity to members of the EPFO, who have availed of the EPS, to opt for higher annuity over the next four months. Employees who were existing EPS members as on September 1, 2014 can contribute up to 8.33 per cent of their ‘actual’ salaries — as against 8.33 per cent of the pensionable salary capped at Rs 15,000 a month — towards pension.