Lok Sabha Question No. 201 (STARRED), answered on 2016-05-09
Subject: Settlement of Provident Fund Claims
Ministry: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
Asked by: BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 201

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.05.2016

## SETTLEMENT OF PROVIDENT FUND CLAIMS

*201. SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO: KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH:

Will  the  Minister  of  LABOUR  AND  EMPLOYMENT  be  pleased  to state:

- (a)the  total  number  of  cases  of  Employees'  Provident  Fund  (EPF) settled  by  the  Employees'  Provident  Fund  Organisation  (EPFO) during each of the last three years;
- (b)the total number of cases of EPF pending for settlement during the above period, State/UT-wise;
- (c)whether  any  norms  have  been  prescribed  for  the  processing  of claims, if so, the details thereof along with the rate of settlement;
- (d)whether the Government proposes to reduce the period of settlement of claims and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)the  other  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  for  speedy disposal of the pending claims including online processing?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI BANDARU DATTATREYA)

(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  201  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  09.05.2016  BY  SHRI BIDYUT  BARAN  MAHATO  &  KUNWAR  HARIBANSH  SINGH  REGARDING SETTLEMENT OF PROVIDENT FUND CLAIMS.

- (a): The  total  number  of  claims  settled  by  Employees'  Provident  Fund Organisation (EPFO) during the last three years is as under:-
- (b): The State-wise pendency of cases at the end of financial year 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 is at Annex.
- (c): As per Paragraph 72(7) of Employees' Provident Funds (EPF) Scheme, 1952, claims complete in all respects shall be settled within 20 days.

| Year    |   No. of claims settled (in lakh) |
|---------|-----------------------------------|
| 2013-14 |                            123.36 |
| 2014-15 |                            130.21 |
| 2015-16 |                            118.66 |

During the year 2015-16, 98 per cent of claims have been settled within 20 days.

(d): No, Madam. However, the Government vide notification No. G.S.R. 525 (E),  G.S.R.  526  (E)  &  G.S.R.  527  (E)  dated  02.07.2015  has  reduced  the settlement period from 30 days to 20 days.

- (e): The following steps have been taken by EPFO for speedy settlement of claims:-
- i. EPFO  has  allotted  a  unique  Universal  Account  Number  (UAN)  to  its members for portability and consolidation of all previous accounts. The employees whose details like Aadhaar or Permanent Account Number (PAN) and Bank Account Numbers have been seeded in their UAN and whose UAN have been activated by their employers, may submit claim forms directly to the EPFO without attestation of their employers.
- ii. Online Transfer Claim Portal (OTCP) has been introduced to facilitate seamless transfer of claims.
- iii. The  process  of  settlement  has  been  simplified  and  certain  manual processes have been done away with.
- iv. National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) and Core Banking Solutions have been introduced for provident fund payments. Over 99 per cent of all payments, including monthly pension payments, are effected electronically.
- v. A multilevel supervision is being done at different hierarchies.

ANNEX  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (b)  OF  LOK  SABHA  STARRED QUESTION NO. 201 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.05.2016 BY SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO  &  KUNWAR  HARIBANSH  SINGH  REGARDING  SETTLEMENT  OF PROVIDENT FUND CLAIMS.

## State-wise details of cases pending for settlement

| Sl. No.   | State                                                                               |   2015-16 |   2014-15 |   2013-14 |
|-----------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1         | Andhra Pradesh (Including Telangana)                                                |      2246 |      3190 |     29997 |
| 2         | Bihar                                                                               |       320 |       244 |       190 |
| 3         | Chhattisgarh                                                                        |      5375 |       131 |       236 |
| 4         | Delhi                                                                               |      6449 |       261 |     10468 |
| 5         | Goa                                                                                 |      1062 |       537 |      1008 |
| 6         | Gujarat (includes Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli)                             |      3990 |      7317 |      3409 |
| 7         | Haryana                                                                             |     10999 |     15721 |     11093 |
| 8         | Himachal Pradesh                                                                    |        80 |      1170 |      1467 |
| 9         | Jharkhand                                                                           |       140 |       121 |       188 |
| 10        | Karnataka                                                                           |      2442 |      1050 |     34055 |
| 11        | Kerala (includes Lakshadweep)                                                       |      6787 |      4057 |     10604 |
| 12        | Madhya Pradesh                                                                      |       213 |         4 |       396 |
| 13        | Maharashtra                                                                         |     42167 |     30199 |     67651 |
| 14        | States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur & Mizoram |       196 |       380 |       125 |
| 15        | Odisha                                                                              |       419 |       135 |      5349 |
| 16        | Punjab (includes Chandigarh)                                                        |      1763 |       161 |      3460 |
| 17        | Rajasthan                                                                           |        35 |       312 |       240 |
| 18        | Tamil Nadu                                                                          |     30920 |     29726 |     43358 |
| 19        | Uttarakhand                                                                         |       803 |       249 |      2648 |
| 20        | Uttar Pradesh                                                                       |      1599 |       471 |      2188 |
| 21        | West Bengal (includes Sikkim and Andaman & Nicobar Islands)                         |       421 |       276 |      4748 |
|           | Total                                                                               |    118426 |     95712 |    232878 |

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