J-K Assembly passes EPF amendment bill

The Bill was moved by Minister for Labour and Employment Abdul Gani Malik in the House yesterday and after thorough discussion, it was passed without any amendment with voice votes.

PDP Legislator Choudhary Zulfikar Ali withdrew his amendment after the assurance from the government.

The objective of the Bill as the Jammu and Kashmir Employees Provident Funds (and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1961, applies to every establishment in which five or more persons are employed at any time.

With a view to reconciling the conflicting interests of Labour and Industry, a high-level committee was constituted on October 24, 2011 to discuss the issues of Federation of Industries with regard to increasing the threshold limit of the applicability the said Act from five to ten workers.

The Committee recommended that the threshold limit of number of employees in an establishment for coverage under the EPF Scheme will be raised from 5 to 10 prospectively, provided that establishments covered at present, and having employees lesser than ten, will continue to be within the ambit of the scheme in respect of employees already covered.

It also recommended that rate of contribution of the employer