Kozhikode: The legal battle of retired staff with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) for higher scale of PF (provident fund) pensions is yet to be over even after a Supreme Court judgment in 2016.
In the latest development, R C Gupta, the man who had won the case which ensured higher pension for a large number of people, has announced that he would move court again as the EPFO has blocked his pension.
In the R C Gupta case of 2016, the Supreme Court had ruled that the EPFO’s decision to fix a cut-off date to give option for higher pension was wrong. The court also ordered that the EPFO should continue to receive options, based on which Gupta was granted higher pension.
However, EPFO has now blocked Gupta’s pension citing an observation of the Supreme Court in a judgment delivered on November 4 last year.
While validating its judgment in the Gupta case, the apex court said that employees who had retired from service before September 1, 2014 could not give fresh option.
Gupta retired as general manager with Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) in 2008 and gave option in 2016 based on the Supreme Court judgment. EPFO has now stopped his pension pointing out that the option was given after September 2014.
Gupta’s version
Meanwhile, Gupta said that he would be filing two cases against the EPFO. One relates to blocking his pension without serving a notice and providing him an opportunity to explain his view. The second case is a defamation case.
“From the time I joined it, the organisation I worked for had contributed to EPFO proportional to my salary. In fact, under paragraph 26(6), the option for pension should be given at the time of joining the service.
Based on this option, a higher amount was paid as PF contribution. Asking an employee to submit this option online again years after retirement is a big joke. Such a directive of the EPFO is also improper and undemocratic,” said Gupta.
