Supreme The court has directed the Central Government to take a decision on the revision of salary limit in the ‘Employees’ Provident Fund’ (EPF) scheme within 4 months. There has been no change in the salary limit in the EPF scheme for the last 11 years. On Monday, while hearing the petition of social activist Naveen Prakash Nautiyal, Justice J. Of. Maheshwari and Justice A. S. Chandurkar’s bench gave this order. According to the petition, the ‘Employees’ Provident Fund Organization’ (EPFO), which operates social security schemes for employees, does not include employees with a monthly salary of more than Rs 15,000 in this scheme.
What did the petitioner’s lawyers tell?
Petitioner’s lawyers Pranab Sachdeva and Neha Rathi said in their argument that despite the minimum salary being more than this limit in many parts of the country, no change has been made in the salary limit of EPF. Due to this, a large number of employees are being deprived of the benefits of social security and provident fund. While disposing of the petition, the Supreme Court directed the petitioner to submit a representation to the Central Government along with a copy of the order within two weeks. The government should take a decision in this regard within 4 months. The petition argued that in the last 70 years, the revision of salary limits has been done very arbitrarily and sometimes after a gap of 13-14 years. During this period, no connection was kept with economic indicators like inflation, minimum wage or per capita income.
Very few employees are getting the benefits of the scheme
According to the petition, “Due to this inconsistent policy, today fewer employees are getting benefits under the EPF scheme than before. In the year 2022, the sub-committee of EPFO had recommended increasing the salary limit and including more employees in the scheme, which was also approved by the Central Board. But the Central Government has not yet taken a decision on this.” According to the petition, an analysis of the revisions in the salary limit of the EPF scheme over the last 70 years shows that in the first 30 years, it was an inclusive structure, but in the last three decades, it has clearly become a means of excluding more employees.
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