Rejection rates for final settlement of PF over the last five years has increased. From 2017-18 to 2022-23, it has surged up from 13 per cent to 34 per cent, which means one in three claims made by the members are turned down by Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), as reported by The Indian Express.
Earlier, the document verification for claims was done offline. However, the procedure has now been linked to Aadhaar and the entire process has been shifted online. Officials told IE that the main reason for rejection is because of the complete shift to online system.
A former member of the Central Board of Trustees, EFPO, told the publication that this issue was previously raised in meetings, and has increased after workers started submitting applications online.
"The system has become such that after a few days, claims are returned citing discrepancies. Many of these discrepancies are nowadays on account of just an alphabet in the name of the member not matching, or different details in Aadhaar. All of this creates a lot of problems for the EPF subscribers. There should be a system to correct the mistakes," the former member told The Indian Express.
The prominent issues that were recorded are 'KYC-related problems of subscribers pertaining to PF office', 'amount not credited in bank account after claim settlement', and passbook-related issues among others.
The report also stated that lack of pension-related information, limited banks for pension receipts, and updates regarding certificates are some of the reasons why there is a surge in rejection in claim settlement.
There are currently 29 crore subscribers in the EPFO retirement fund body.
Recently, a man in Kerala died by suicide in an EPFO office after his application for the PF amount owed to him was rejected.
According to records, more than five crore claims with claim payments of over Rs 1.5 lakh crore have been processed in the year 2022-23.
Published 24 February 2024, 11:38 IST