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Curbs on PF withdrawals go
In a major relief to the salaried class, the Union government on Tuesday revoked the order tightening rules for withdrawal of Provident Fund money, within hours of keeping it in abeyance for three more months.
Hyderabad/New Delhi/Bengaluru: In a major relief to the salaried class, the Union government on Tuesday revoked the order tightening rules for withdrawal of Provident Fund money, within hours of keeping it in abeyance for three more months.
"The notification issued on February 10, 2016, is cancelled. Now the old system will continue," Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said at a press conference here.
Under the new Provident Fund withdrawal norms, one could not withdraw their full contribution to the fund till they attain the age of 58. This cancellation of the new norms means that an employee can now withdraw the entire corpus accumulated under the EPF.
The Union Minister said that he had two options: One was to keep the notification in abeyance and the second to cancel it. “I have decided to cancel the February 10 notification. Now the old system will continue and 12 per cent share of the employer can be taken by the employee at any time,” he said.
"I will take ratification from the CBT (Central Board of Trustees of EPFO)," he said after violence rocked Bengaluru for the second day when garment industry workers torched several buses and attacked a police station protesting against the tightening of rules.
Giving reasons for the rollback, Dattatreya said, "The reason is the request of trade unions. The earlier decision (to tighten the PF withdrawal norms) was also taken by the opinion of the trade unions. Now, when the trade unions are requesting, then we have rolled back the decision."
Earlier in the day in New Delhi, the minister had said, "The notification (tightening PF withdrawal norms) will be kept in abeyance for three months till July 31, 2016. We will discuss this issue with the stakeholders."
Dattatreya said employees and workers need not have any misconceptions in the wake of the cancellation of the notification.In a placatory move, the Labour Ministry also said it was contemplating permitting withdrawal of all accumulations by Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) subscribers on grounds like purchase of house, serious illness, marriage and professional education of children. The matter has been referred to the Law Ministry for clearance.
People have also launched online campaign against the decision, which was to be implemented from February 10 but was later put on hold till April 30.
Protesters pelted stones at Hebbagodi Police Station in Bengaluru and torched seized vehicles parked there, as the spontaneous agitation with no trade union leading it spun out of control.
In February, the ministry had issued a notification restricting 100 per cent withdrawal of provident fund by members after unemployment of more than two months, among others.
Following the concerns raised by trade unions and other stakeholders, the ministry decided to keep the notification in abeyance till April 30. Its implementation has been again deferred till July 31, as per a Labour Ministry statement. The BMS on Tuesday said they would continue to protest till all restrictions on PF withdrawal were removed.
