EPFO directs offices to pay higher pension to eligible EPS members

After a long wait, there is some good news for Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) subscribers. EPS members eligible for a higher pension, post a Supreme Court judgement, but were being turned away by provident fund offices can now get their dues thanks a recent circular by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
The EPFO has started pushing its offices to give higher pension to those EPF members who are eligible for it based on a landmark judgement by the Supreme Court in October 2016. The apex court’s judgement had directed the EPFO to revise the pension on higher wages of the petitioners under EPS.
However, it seems some field offices are yet to implement the same and have been delaying the process in the garb of non-availability of explicit instructions from the EPFO head office.
EPFO head office has taken this matter seriously and on June 8, 2018, it issued a circular stating, “No instructions can be kept aside for compliance only on the ground that reference has been made to Head Office for further clarification on assumption basis without attempting to comply those instructions practically. EPFO circular goes on to say – “Many field offices are taking appropriate actions on the detailed order of the Supreme Court duly circulated by Head Office for compliance by utilizing the provisions already existing in the relevant software, whereas some offices are deliberately not taking any action to revise the pension claims to eligible members by taking one plea or the other.”
For the year ending 31st March 2018, based on the number of cases received by them, these were the regional offices which have revised the pension.
Source: Economic Times