Mumbai, Sep 9 (PTI) A consumer court has directed the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to pay 6 per cent interest to a retired employee for a 35-day delay in settling his provident fund claim of over Rs 14 lakh.
The Mumbai Suburban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, in an order passed last week, held the statutory body guilty of service deficiency for failing to settle the claim within the stipulated 20-day period under the EPF Scheme, 1952.
The complainant, a former employee of Fleet Maritime Services (India) Pvt Ltd, stated in his plea that he had submitted a complete PF claim on October 19, 2016, but the EPFO failed to settle it within the prescribed period.
The EPFO argued that he had not submitted the required joint declaration with the original claim, and it was returned on November 7, 2016. It received a complete set of documents only on December 2, 2016.
Subsequently, the provident fund claim was settled within 20 days on December 14, 2016, the organisation said, denying that there was any delay on its part.
But the commission rejected the EPFO’s defence, noting that the organization failed to produce any written rejection letter or deficiency communication sent to the complainant to prove that the original submission was incomplete.
“On the evidence available on record, the Opposite Party has failed to satisfactorily establish that the claim was incomplete on 19.10.2016,” the commission said.
The organization should have processed and settled the claim within the prescribed period and the failure to do so constitutes “deficiency in service”, it said, ordering the EPFO to pay 6% per annum interest on the Rs 14,06,272 claim amount for the 35-day delay period (from November 9, 2016, to December 13, 2016).
The EPFO has been granted 45 days to comply with the order. PTI AVI KRK
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