Report No. 137

2.6.1. Indifference, inaction or fault of officials.-

One of the major causes for delay in the settlement of Provident Fund and other retirement dues cases is inaction or fault on the part of the office of the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner. The matters ordinarily are not given prompt attention. Paragraph 91 of Chapter III, Manual of Accounting Procedure (Volume 1, Part II) of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation requires that every effort should be made to ensure that the claims for final refund of Employees' Provident Fund dues and other benefits under Employees' Family Pension/Employees' Deposit-Linked Insurance Schemes are settled within 20 days of their receipt.

Various measures have been laid down in order to ensure speedy settlement of accounts. Such measures are contained in para 92 Chapter III of the Manual. However, in practice the settlement of cases is generally delayed. Some cases are settled after several years. The case of one Shri Iqbal Ahmed of Bangalore can be cited as an illustration. Shri Ahmed served M/s. Road Bird (P) Ltd., Calcutta, during 1972 to October 1981. His case regarding the Provident Fund and Family Pension was settled in March 1983.

The amounts were sent by the Office of the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner vide cheque dated March 21, 1983 and March 30, 1983. The cheque in respect of the amount of the Provident Fund was returned to the Office of Regional Provident Fund Commissioner as there was some clerical mistake therein. Instead of correcting the error and re-despatching it back to the employee, the Office of the Regional Provident Fund Commissioner cancelled the cheque in October 1983 and thereafter no action was taken by them to pay the amount to the employee.