By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAR 08, 2017: SINCE a good number of pensioners have failed to furnish Aadhaar authenticated Jeevan Pramaan as life certificate for continuation of drawal of pension, the EPFO has further extended the last date of submission of Digital Life Certificate through Jeevan Pramaan Patra upto 31 st March 2017. Earlier the last date was February 28, 2017.

Members and pensioners of the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 are required to furnish Aadhaar number by 31 st March 2017.  In case a member has not been allotted Aadhaar Number, a copy of Aadhaar Enrolment ID slip is required to be attached for settlement of claim under EPS, 1995, namely for pension processing and monthly pension payments.  Aadhaar number however is not required in case a member of pension scheme having less than 10 years of service chooses to withdraw by making an application in Form 10-C.

An Employee Enrolment Campaign-2017, started by EPFO on January 1 st 2017 to cover left out workers, continues upto 31 st March 2017.  Under the scheme:-

++ The employee's share of contributions if not deducted by the employer is waived.

++ Nominal damages to be paid by the employer, in respect of the employees for whom declaration has been made under this campaign, is at the rate of Rupee One per annum.

++ Administrative charges have been waived.

Even though the EPF & MP Act, 1952 does not differentiate between casual, contractual and regular employees, it was noted that a large number of contractual employees hired by principal employer including those by the government departments, PSU and autonomous Organizations have remained out of coverage under EPFO. It is the duty of the principal employer to ensure compliance of their outsourced/regular/contract/ casual/daily wager to the schemes under EPF Act. 

To ensure coverage of workers, principal employers have been advised to ensure that their contractors are registered with EPFO before award of any contract or making any payments.  EPFO provides relevant information in this regard to principal employers online.

A health care scheme called ECHS was formulated by Ministry of Defence for its ex-servicemen.  The contractual workers of ECHS till now were deprived of the social security benefits under EPFO.  The ECHS now has been brought under the ambit of the EPF Act.  Ministry of Defence has issued necessary directions to the ECHS for enrolling their contractual staff.  Similarly, all eligible workers engaged by contractors working with Military Engineering Services (MES) and Indian Railways have also being requested to ensure coverage of contractual employees under EPFO.

Towards continuous strive to bring increased conveniences and efficiency, a single page Composite Claim Form (Aadhar) replaces Forms No. 19 (UAN), 10C (UAN) & 31(UAN) for subscribers seeding their Aadhar number with UAN.  This can be submitted without the attestation of employers. For subscribers who are yet to seed Aadhaar and Bank details with their UAN, a new Composite Claim Form (Non-Aadhar) replaces the existing Forms No. 19, 10C & 31.

In addition, a Composite Claim Form in death cases replaces the existing Forms No, 20, 5-IF and  10-D.  The claimants can apply for claim of Provident Fund, Insurance Fund and monthly pension through this single page composite claim form in case of death of a member.