By Express News Service
Published: 20th June 2015 06:00 AM
BENGALURU: The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is gearing up to notify a draft order next week that will make the Universal Account Number (UAN) compulsory for all organisations covered under the Employees Provident Fund Act.
Central Provident Fund Commissioner K K Jalan met over 150 employers in the city on Friday and discussed possible issues in this regard.
As per the new order, an employer will have to get a declaration on Form 11 from all employees within a month of joining the company and upload it on the UAN portal within 25 days of the close of each month.
The UAN will be shared with all existing employees who are members of the fund within 15 days of being generated and an acknowledgement will be obtained.
Know Your Customer (KYC) details like bank account numbers, PAN and Aadhaar numbers will also have to be uploaded within a month of the receipt of the UAN, and Aadhaar numbers, when provided, will have to be uploaded on the UAN portal within 15 days, as per the new rules.
“We have fixed a deadline of August 25 for carrying out the orders in the notification, which will be issued soon. Action will be taken under the powers given to us by the Employees Provident Funds Scheme-1952 and other applicable laws in case of failure to comply with the order,” Jalan told reporters.
He termed the order a ‘paradigm shift’ in the functioning of the organisation. “For the first time, the EPFO will be enabled to deal directly with employees. Work started in July 2014 and it (UAN) was launched in October 2014 as a voluntary scheme. But we have directions from the government now to make UAN mandatory.”
PF Near You
The EPFO will call its Bhavishya Nidhi Adalat ‘Nidhi Aapke Nikat’ to do away with inhibitions of sections of society from approaching public hearings to get their issues resolved.
Jalan said the new ‘PF Near You’ exercise will have features aimed at making the mechanism more accessible. “EPFO will be moving away from a pure grievance redressal-centred approach to a more broad-based and participatory approach. We will not only redress grievances but also invite suggestions, sensitise stakeholders and provide a platform for employers to vent their grievances,” Jalan said.
The ‘PF Near You’ meetings will be held on the 10th every month (or the next working day if it is a holiday) from July in all regional/sub-regional office and will be presided over by the officer-in-charge or the next senior officer. Subscribers can attend the 10.30 am to 1 pm slot and employers the 3 pm to 4 pm slot. Exempted establishments can attend the 4 pm to 5 pm slot.