EPFO prepares comprehensive cadre restructuring plan

Places it before executive committee for approval.

Amidst tiff with the finance ministry on 9.5 per cent EPF interest rate for the current financial year, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has prepared a comprehensive cadre restructuring plan drawing parallels with the Income Tax department.

The plan has been placed before the executive committee of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), which met on Monday, for its approval. EPFO sources told Business Standard that the plan would be fine-tuned on the basis of the suggestions from the committee members and then would be taken up for final approval.

The EPFO in its proposed cadre restructuring plan has pointed out: “Keeping in view, the nature of activities of EPFO, and the types of duties, responsibilities and functions being performed by EPFO officers and staff, closest analogy can be drawn with the Income Tax Department since the nature and activity and functions performed by offices of I-T department are quite similar to EPFO. Further, the powers which an EPFO officer draws from the EPF & MP Act to carry out its duties are similar as the I-T Act confers on the I-T officers.”

The body has stressed that the exponential increase in the workload had not been matched with the corresponding increase in the strength of the officers and staff in EPFO creating a lot of strain in the organisational set-up. The number of establishments covered by the EPFO has risen from 340,013 as on March 31, 2001 to 573,063 on March 31, 2009. The sanctioned manpower, however, increased from 20,984 on March 31, 2001 to 25,809 on March 31, 2009. The total corpus managed by the EPFO has grown from Rs 2,380 crore on March 31, 1980 to Rs 2,84,452.90 crore on March 31, 2010.(Click for table)

Outlining that due to shortage of staff and officers, there was less effective supervision over the client establishments which resulted in customer dissatisfaction, the EPFO has proposed to creation of additional posts and upgradation of certain posts. The creation of new posts include that of two posts of Additional Central Provident fund Commissioners (CPFCs).

“The proposed structure will effectively bridge the wide gap between the top most post ie CPFC and next below post ie ACC in the existing structure. It will also remove the distortion of the hierarchical pyramid which exists at the top in the current structure,” EPFO has stressed in the restructuring plan adding that it will sufficiently take care of the huge amount of stagnation in all the ranks of officer cadre in the organisation.

On the similar lines, it has also been proposed that the remaining regular cadres, technical cadres as well as the isolated streams would also be restructured, according to the plan. The proposed cadre restructuring would involve annual financial implication to the tune of Rs 9,95,90,892 which had been concurred by the finance wing, said EPFO.