Retired employees of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) had submitted a petition on being denied the right to exercise joint option for higher pension on actual wages under the Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995.
While their employer had verified and forwarded their joint options online, EPFO had rejected that basis Trust Rules which imposed a limit to the contributions and had not been amended post the Supreme Court Judgement of 4 November 2022.
As per the EPFO it had based its decision on the January 2025 order that said eligibility is to be determined based on extant Trust Rules. According to this circular, the applications of members of Trusts that amended their rules after 4 November 2022 should be rejected.
The Calcutta High Court, however, pointed out that the EPFO overlooked the fact that that the order said nothing about internal Trust Rules and had simply chosen to embrace the provision that was most favourable to them in an irresponsible manner without giving serious thought.
Justice Shampa Dutt (Paul) observed that EPFO had granted pension on higher wages to certain exempted establishments without referring to Trust Rules and at the same time denied it to others basis their Trust Rules and wage limit. This was not uniform treatment as per the Court.
The Court maintained that staff of exempted and unexempted establishments must be treated equally. By not including exempted establishment staff, EPFO had artificially classified employee categories, which were actually supposed to be equal. The Court went on to declare the January 2025 EPFO circular illegal and in violation of the Supreme Court orders, as it added conditions that were absent in any judgement and prevented employees from receiving benefits.
The Court also discovered that employees had not been given a hearing before rejection of their options. It noted that EPFO had consulted only the concerned employers while actually they should have kept the interest of the employees in mind because they are the ones impacted.
As per LiveLaw, all orders rejected between February and June this year have been quashed by the Calcutta HC. All joint option submissions made on or before 31 January 2025, or with an extended deadline will be accepted. As per the Court order, once employees pay the differential contribution along with interest, they will be given higher pension starting the following month.
3 Comments
Nice Article. Maintain.
Exactly the same way, EPFzo Hyderabad has rejected the applications of all NMDC Ltd employees and not issued Demand letters. Now EPFO should consider their applications.
Exactly the same way, EPFzo Coimbatore has rejected the applications of 34 BIMETAL BEARINGS LIMITED, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu employees citing that the Joint option declaration was not submitted while we were in service. Now EPFO should consider our applications. Is there any person who can guide us in this regard will be appreciated.