Senior social security assistants of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) are worried about losing promotion opportunities, even after serving the institution for several years, due to recruitment rules favouring the new entrants.
Several senior social security assistants working in Karnataka and other States have written to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner in New Delhi to address the issue and provide them with justice.
The employees recruited as social security assistants in the organisation get a chance to become section supervisors or head clerks after they clear the departmental competitive examination. However, the organisation did not conduct the examination to fill the vacancies created between 1993 and 2017, denying the employees opportunities for promotion.
The organisation notified the examination in 2017 and it was held on July 27, 2019. Along with those who served the organisation for decades, recently recruited also took the examination. The results have not been declared so far. Meanwhile, the employees filed multiple cases in CAT across the country, questioning the recruitment rules and eligibility criteria.
Chandigarh Chapter of CAT in November 2019 ordered to consider all those who have completed three years of service as eligible for the examination. However, the Karnataka High Court on August 9, 2021, ordered to declare the results of the examination as per the recruitment rules of 2017, benefiting those who had completed nine years of service.
On October 21, the head office of the organisation issued a circular to zonal offices to make arrangements to declare the results as per the Chandigarh CAT order.
An employee who has served more than 25 years in this organisation said, “We have appealed to the organisation to complete the process as per the recruitment rules of 2017. The Karnataka High Court also highlighted the same. If it is not followed, there are chances of those recruited in the recent years getting senior positions in the organisation, demoralising the those who have served longer,” he said.
Another employee, who also wished not to be named, said it was the fault of the organisation for not conducting the competitive exam for decades.
“The vacancies generated during those years ideally should go to those who served the organisation then. But, the rules now adopted will benefit those who were recruited in the recent years,” he pointed out.
