Govt examining SC order on employees' pension scheme: Union minister

The govt said it is examining a SC judgement which upheld Employees' Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014 and allowed employees to opt for enhanced pension coverage alongside their employers in 4 months

The government on Thursday said it is examining a Supreme Court judgement which upheld Employees' Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014 and allowed employees to opt for enhanced pension coverage alongside their employers in four months' time.

"Yes, sir. The directions of the Supreme Court in the judgment are under examination," Minister of State for Labour & Employment Rameswar Teli said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

Teli was replying to a question on whether the government is aware about the Supreme Court verdict of November 4 on EPF pension scheme and by when it will implement the verdict and instruct the EPFO (Employees Provident Fund Organisation) to take actions for giving higher pension.

In another written reply, Teli said the court judgement has legal, financial, actuarial and logistical implications.

The scheme has provided for an extension of four months' time for eligible employees to opt for enhanced pension.

The apex court order provides that employees who were existing EPS-95 members as on September 1, 2014 can contribute up to 8.33 per cent of their actual salaries, as against 8.33 per cent of the pensionable salary capped at Rs 15,000 a month, towards pension.

It had also struck down the requirement in the 2014 amendments mandating employer contribution of 1.16 per cent of the salary exceeding Rs 15,000 per month.

This will facilitate the subscribers to contribute higher to the scheme and get enhanced benefits accordingly.

There are more than six crore subscribers of the retirement fund body. A large number of contributing members of the pension scheme would benefit from opting for contribution on wages higher than threshold of Rs 15,000 per month.

The minster also said EPFO has a corpus of Rs 18,64,136 crore. This amount consists of Rs 11,37,096.72 crore in Employees' Provident Fund Scheme, 1952; Rs 6,89,210.72 crore in Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 and Rs 37,828.56 crore in Employees' Deposit-Linked Insurance Scheme, 1976, as on March 31, 2022.