MHA made Rs 82 lakh excess payment to EPF: DG (Audit)
New Delhi, October 16
The Director General (DG) of Audit (Central Expenditure) in its latest report has revealed that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has made “excess contribution” to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) of outsourced contractual staff to the tune of Rs 82.23 lakh and asked the ministry to recover the amount from the outsourcing agencies.
In its report, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the DG, Audit, said as per the scheme, the employer “was required to restrict its contribution to Rs 1,800 per month, which is 12 per cent of the maximum wage ceiling of Rs 15,000 per month in respect of those outsourced employees who were drawing more than Rs 15,000”.
The MHA had engaged an agency, M/s Pravidhi India, for outsourcing the services of data entry operators and multitasking staff (MTS). Subsequently, from November 2019 onwards, the work of outsourcing MTS was given to M/s Bedi and Bedi.
The report said, “Both agencies periodically provide invoices to the MHA containing details of personnel deployed on the basis on which the ministry made payment to them. These payments included PF (employer’s contribution) also.”
