EPFO Higher Pension- Big news for pensioners. There was confusion among EPFO members for a long time regarding pension on higher salary. But in response to a recent question asked in Parliament, the government has now clarified the position on this issue. On July 21, Minister of State for Labor and Employment Shobha Karandlaje told the Lok Sabha that as per the Supreme Court order of November 4, 2022, till now EPFO has settled 98.5 percent of the total 15.24 lakh applications.
What is the issue of pension on high salary?
There has been a controversy in the EPFO scheme for years whether employees can avail pension based on their actual (higher) salary or not. In 2014, EPFO had issued a circular saying that such an option would be available only to those who had opted for this option during service and their salary at that time was more than the maximum limit of Rs 15,000.
The matter went to the Supreme Court and on November 4, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that all employees who were members of EPF before September 1, 2014 and continued to work or retired after that date are eligible to opt for higher pension based on their actual salary, provided they have opted for joint option with their employer. EPFO was directed to review all such cases and take a decision.
Adoor Prakash asked several questions related to pension on higher salary in Lok Sabha -Is the government aware that a large number of applications for pension on higher salaries have been rejected by the EPFO? If yes, then what are the details and reasons for such cases? How many applications received, accepted, rejected and pending state wise? Is the government making any immediate plans to expedite the disposal of pending applications? If yes, what are the details and if no, what are the reasons?
Responding to all these questions, the Minister of State for Labour said that as per the order of the Supreme Court, EPFO has settled all the applications for pension on higher salary and till now 98.5% of the applications have been settled.
The government did not explain the main reasons for the rejected applications, but it is clear that the EPFO has reviewed these applications under a comprehensive process. The number of pending applications is only 1.5% of the total applications, which can be planned to be settled soon, although the government has not given any direct timeline on this.