Nagpur News.
Now, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has been found to be the biggest defaulter in remitting the contribution of Employees’ Provident Fund. The NMC, which leaves no chance to expose the big defaulters of various taxes, has not deposited a staggering Rs 19 crore of employees’ share to the Provident Fund Office since January 2011. The civic body, in order to maintain some grace, remitted Rs 51.85 lakh for a single month of July 2013. Meanwhile, depositing of Rs 21.62 crore towards Employees Provident Fund share has got stalled as FDCM (Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra) and some companies have knocked the doors of courts over some disputes.
The Provident Fund plays an important role in an employee’s life as the money secures his or her future after retirement from service. The primary objective of Provident Fund is to provide social security and to inculcate amongst the workers a spirit of saving while they are gainfully employed and to make provision for benefit after they retire from service and for their family members after their death.
However, many companies have been found avoiding remittance of employees’ share of Provident Fund to the social security office. The NMC, which has more than 4000 employees at its service, has abysmally failed to deposit the deducted share of employees in the Provident Fund Office since January 2011, according to sources.
The high-profile Abhijit Group too is in the same “elite” group of companies that have failed to remit the amount of employees’ Provident Fund. An enquiry by PF Office is going on and the final pending amount will be decided within a month, sources said.
TURMOIL:
As the reports of companies gobbling up employees PF amount poured in, tension ran high among employees’ circles. The Provident Fund Office too has speeded up the plan of action. During the period from April 2013 to March 2014, the PF Office has recovered Rs 2.49 crore from 261 establishments. Notably, the PF amount of Rs 1.59 crore was recovered from 59 companies within a period of three months.
MANY COMPANIES KNOCK COURT DOORS; Rs 21 CRORE DOCKED:
The Provident Fund Office had serve notices to the 2531 defaulting companies under Sections 7A, 14B, 7Q of the Provident Fund Act 1952. The PF Office conducted an enquiry against 300 companies and brought to the fore the entire report of pending dues. Bank accounts of 89 companies were attached and the pending PF amount was recovered by diverting the money of the companies. However, many companies including FDCM opposed the enquiry and approached the courts. The move resulted in docking of employees’ PF share to the tune of Rs 21 crore.
