EPFO directs zonal, regional offices to allow part payments on PF claims

EPFO has instructed offices not to reject PF settlement claims but to process part payments, with balances to be paid once full contributions are received

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has asked its regional and zonal offices to process part payments in some cases, including non-remittance of employer contribution for certain periods, during the final provident fund (PF) settlement, and not reject the whole claim.

 

In a letter issued by the Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) on Friday to all its regional and zonal offices, the EPFO noted that there has been instances of rejecting the final PF settlement claims citing various reasons like non-transfer of previous PF accounts, causing “financial distress” to claimants.

 

“In this regard, the provisions of para 10.11 of the manual of accounting procedure (MAP) Part-IIA categorically allows processing of such claims for part payment of the available accumulations in the account of the member. Accordingly, all offices are hereby advised not to reject such claims, but to ensure processing such claims for part payments as per the above provisions to avoid any financial distress to the members/claimants,” the letter reads.

 

The accounting manual lists five reasons for making part payments, including cases of defaulting establishments, non-receipt of Form 3A, instances where past accumulations are not realised in full, transfer of PF accumulations have not been received from the previous establishment and instances where a portion of the amount is not claimed by the eligible person.

 

“All part payment cases should be entered in the register of part-payment and it should be reviewed every month, and as and when the amount is available for making further payments, action should be taken by the office to effect further payment without insisting for a fresh claim from the claimants,” the letter reads.

 

This advisory comes days after the retirement fund body undertook reforms, like access of all key services and PF account details using a single login on the members’ portal and has reduced and rationalised the approval hierarchy to fast-track the claim settlement process.