As many as 26 establishments in Puducherry have been booked in 2013-14 for failing to remit the Provident Fund collected from employees, said B. Chandra Sekhar, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner II, Puducherry region.
Cases have been booked under Sections 406 and 409 of the IPC against the erring establishments. There are around 11 habitual offenders and the EPFO Sub-Regional Office has lodged complaints with the Executive Magistrate and initiated action against them under Section 110 of the Cr. P.C.
Mr. Sekhar said the government-owned Bharathi and Swadeshi mills had also failed to remit the PF dues. The total outstanding dues were Rs.1.1 crore for the Bharathi mills and Rs.80 lakh for the Swadeshi mills.
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The EPFO had recovered Rs. 12 lakh from the Bharathi mills by attaching some bank accounts. However, the management made a request and has promised to remit the balance amount after the budget session. The bank accounts of as many as 270 establishments were attached in 2013-14 and accounts of 88 more firms were attached during the current year.
The wage ceiling for the subscribers of the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) has been enhanced from Rs. 6.500 to Rs.15,000 by the Union government through a notification with effect from September 1 this year. All employees drawing a salary up to Rs.15,000 should be made compulsorily members of the EPF henceforth. The government had decided to make Rs.1,000 the minimum pension for all employees