Now, online helpdesk for settlement of inoperative EPF accounts

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 19

With the launching of the campaign for identification and settlement of inoperative accounts by the Employees Provident Fund Organisations (EPFO), the department has now also launched an online desk for the settlement of such accounts. The move will not only benefit thousands of beneficiaries but will also speed up the claim settlement.

The regional EPFO, which caters to four districts in the Doaba region, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr, has already started identifying the beneficiaries of inoperative accounts but the launch of online desk will further give push to the endevour in identifying the beneficiaries and then completing the process in minimum possible time.

Jalandhar PF Commissioner Dheeraj Gupta told The Tribune that online desk service has also been started on the EPFO website which can be used by the inoperative account holders to get their money which has been lying with the PF department for long.

As per the EPFO sources, the regional EPFO has already identified over 50,000 inoperative accounts belonging to the beneficiaries residing in four above said districts and in their accounts, an expected amount of several crores is lying with the PF department from years. Sources said in the whole country, around Rs 27,000 crore has been lying in such inoperative accounts and the EPFO head office have been given the nod to release the entire amount after identifying the genuine beneficiaries.

About the process of accessing online portal, account holder has to go on the EPFO website where the member will be prompted to provide the personal details. PF official have the view that the introduction of Universal Account Number (UAN) is expected to greatly facilitate the above initiative as the UAN would enable consolidation of multiple previous PF account numbers with the present one. In addition to this, the recent e-governance initiative of the EPFO such as Online Transfer Claim portal (OTCP), the introduction of batch processing software for updating the annual accounts of the subscribers has also been helping the organisation to zero-in on the inoperative accounts and take necessary corrective action.

Sources said the EPFO has issued directions to the field formations to organise camps, to identify and facilitate settlement of Inoperative Accounts and ensure that the money goes to the rightful claimant. “The participation of employers covered under the Act in this initiative has been sought and all efforts are being taken to ascertain the present status of the beneficiaries, including the current address, current employment, whether the member is a UAN allottee, the bank account details and Aadhaar details of the member,” said a PF official.

What is inoperative account

Inoperative accounts are those accounts in which no contribution has been received for the past 36 months from the employers but accounts keep on getting interest for continuous 36 months and from the start of 37th month onwards, no interest is credited by the EPFO against funds in such accounts.