Unions against diverting unclaimed EPFO deposits, boycott meet

Unions boycotted meeting over alleged attempts at diversion of provident fund money by the government to the Senior Citizen's Welfare Fund

Central trade unions on Tuesday walked out of a meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) that was supposed to take a decision on increasing the quantum of investment by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in equity. CBT is the highest decision-making forum of the EPFO.

The unions boycotted the meeting over alleged attempts at diversion of provident fund money by the government to the Senior Citizen's Welfare Fund (SCWF). According to a finance ministry notification on March 18, deposits unclaimed for over seven years of employees' provident fund (EPF), public provident fund and small saving schemes such as Post Office Savings Accounts, Post Office Recurring Deposit Accounts and National Savings Certificates subscribers will be diverted towards setting up SCWF. According to the rules, the government office concerned "shall try to contact" every account holder of the unclaimed deposits through written notices, e-mails or telephone at least twice in 60 days before transferring the amount to SCWF.

The CBT meeting was supposed to decide on increasing the equity exposure of EPF from the present five per cent. EPFO guidelines give a leeway to take the exposure up to 15 per cent.

"Any misappropriation of fund from the EPFO corpus cannot be diverted," Vrijesh Upadhyay, national secretary, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, said. "We are totally against the move. All central trade unions have boycotted the meeting."

Inoperative EPF accounts are those where no deposits have taken place for 36 months. Under pressure from the unions, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said he would take up the issue with the finance ministry. "We will withdraw the agenda item from today's meeting. Will look into the issue," Dattatreya said, requesting unions to resume the meeting.

M Jagadishwara Rao, all India general secretary, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, said the trade unions were opposing the move as the money belonged to employees. "We support the government's move to set up a fund for senior citizens. But, it is wrong to divert EPF money for the purpose. EPF money is workers' money. This cannot be taken away from them," Rao said. Rao said the unions were also opposed to the government's move to increase equity exposure through exchange-traded funds. However, the central trade unions are outnumbered in the CBT, with just 10 members out of the 42, with the remaining being representatives of central and state governments and employers.

LABOUR PAIN
| The unions boycotted the meeting over alleged attempts at diversion of provident fund money by the government to the Senior Citizen's Welfare Fund
| Finance ministry had said deposits, unclaimed for over seven years, would be diverted towards setting up the fund
| The CBT meeting was supposed to decide on increasing equity exposure of EPF from the present 5 per cent. EPFO guidelines give a leeway to take the exposure up to 15 per cent
| Trade unions say diversion of funds from EPFO corpus is illegal