The Modi government is all set to amend the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Act.
The ministry has done the consultation process and is about to finalise the Bill for amendments in it to be tabled in Parliament. The labour ministry may agree to withdraw some of the proposed changes. They include reducing the number of representatives in the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) who command authority over the Provident Fund (PF). Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya convened a tripartite meeting on Wednesday to discuss the contentious issues related to the proposed amendments to Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
Trade unions, according to sources, welcomed the proposal to bring down the threshold of coverage from 20 employees to 10 employees. The government has also proposed to do away with the ‘Schedule of Industries’ and come up with a ‘Negative List’.
The proposal on reducing the size of the CBT and putting a limit of 5 years in regard to assessment of dues against the establishment were met with resistances from unions. The government assured that this would not be done. A reduction has been proposed to the number of representatives of employees and the employers in the CBT.
Unions also objected on the proposal to give the government power to waive off the responsibility of depositing PF by employers based on the financial conditions of the company.
The representatives of prominent trade unions like the CITU, AITUC, INTUC, BMC, AICCTU, HMS and the TUCC attended the meeting. Representatives of important employers’ associations including the Ficci, CII, CIE, PHDCCI and the Assocham attended the consultations. Officers from the Ministry of Labour and Employment and other ministries of the Central government and NITI Aayog were also present.
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