Mumbai: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (Mumbai suburban) has directed the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to pay Rs10,000 to a complainant towards mental agony and litigation cost owing to a delayed claim settlement.
The commission, however, rejected the interest sought by the complainant, Andheri resident Nitin Khedkar, stating that it was essential for EPFO to establish the authenticity of the claim in respect of an inoperative account before it made the payment and that it did give the accrued interest.
Commisson stressed on EPFO to work in a more efficient manner
In the order dated May 15, the commission also stressed on the need for organisations such as EPFO to work “in a more efficient manner, especially when it has identified the problems of pendency at its own level, and directions have been received to complete the work assigned as per deadlines”.
A chartered accountant by profession, Khedkar was employed with an organisation between October 2001 and September 2006. After leaving the firm, he applied for withdrawal of the employer’s contribution in March 2011 but did not receive it despite several follow-ups. In March 2012, he was surprised to know that his claim was rejected. The reason given was that his account was not in operation for three years.
Complainant sought the employer’s contribution amount with 25% interest
In July 2012, he received Rs23.67 lakh but stated that he did not receive interest for 15 months. He sought the same with 25% interest from July till date of payment. During the hearing, EPFO said that though the claim was submitted in 2011, there was huge pendency due to computerisation and change of system.
After March 2011, when claim settlement was started, it got rejected because the account was in unclaimed deposit. It stated that rejection of the claim, after scrutiny, was delayed on account of the process of migration of data from the legacy system to a new application software. It claimed to have reported a similar matter to the head office.
The authorities took the decision to allow interest on such cases from completion of 30 days after receipt of claim till date of settlement. EPFO stated that it accordingly gave interest for 30 days which was credited to the complainant’s account.
The commission observed that the complainant did not explain the money it received while seeking interest on the balance amount. It further observed that as per rules in 2011, inoperative accounts were not supposed to get any interest but the rules were revised later.
