In a revamp of the retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the government has reconstituted the body’s Central Board of Trustees (CBT) after the completion of its five-year term.
Among the 10 employees’ representatives, who are essentially part of trade unions, there are three members from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), along with one member each from Hind Mazdoor Sabha, Communist Party of India (M)-affiliated Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Trade Union Co-ordination Centre, Self Employed Women’s Association, National Front of Indian Trade Unions, a notification issued Friday said. This sums up to eight members out of 10 available positions for employees’ representatives and two posts remain vacant so far. Before this, the CBT was reconstituted in November 2018 having representatives from BMS (3 members), CITU (1 member), AITUC (1 member), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (1 member), AIUTUC (1 member), and three vacant posts of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC). With Friday’s notification, now there are no employees’ representatives from the CPI-affiliated All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC) and Congress-affiliated INTUC. Two posts remain vacant so far without the government mentioning the name of any trade union. The November 2018 notification had mentioned three vacant positions from INTUC.
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Queries on the composition of the Board, the vacant positions and no representation from some specific trade unions were sent by The Indian Express to the Ministry of Labour and Employment, which went unanswered. AITUC General Secretary Amarjeet Kaur said they had suggested to re-nominate AITUC’s existing member, Sukumar Damle, on the Board but his name has not been included.
“We had sent the nomination and we had said that this is not the way that you ask for three names and you select (one). We are re-nominating our person. We were also told that an individual cannot serve more than two terms but Damle has served only one. There is no grounds for that (ineligibility),” Kaur told The Indian Express. She said that they will write a letter to the EPFO and the Ministry on this issue.
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The CBT, EPFO is a tripartite, statutory body constituted by the central government under the provisions of section 5A of the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act,1952 and has representatives of employees, employers and government. The tenure of the Board is five years. In 2017, clause was inserted in Section 5 of the EPF Scheme, 1952, under which “an outgoing trustee or member shall be eligible for re-appointment as member of the central board or the regional committee, as the case may be, for a maximum of not more than two terms”. The Board is headed by the Union Minister of Labour and Employment as the Chairman. Other members include Vice Chairman, Central Provident Fund Commissioner, five central government representatives, 15 state government representatives, 10 employers representatives, 10 employees representatives.
The representatives from employers’ side include Baldevbhai G. Prajapati from Laghu Udyog Bharati, Dr. Sachin B. Sabnis from Laghu Udyog Bharati, Kanika Shriram from All India Organisation of Employers (Council of Indian Employers), Atul Sobti from Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (Council of Indian Employers), Hitender Mehta from Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, Sougata Roy Choudhury from Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Sanjay Bhatia from Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), Ashish Mohan Wig and Vineet Nahata of PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PHDCCI), and Madhu Damodaran of Employers’ Federation of India (Council of Indian Employers).
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The earlier composition of the employers’ representatives had only one member each from Laghu Udyog Bharti and PHDCCI, which have now increased to two members each. Employers’ representatives from All India Manufacturers’ Organisation and Association of Industries and Institution also did not find place on the reconstituted Board.
In the revamped Board, the representatives from employees’ side include Hiranmay Jaydevprasad Pandya of BMS, Girish Chandra Arya of BMS, Sunkari Mallesham of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Harbhajan Singh Sidhu of Hind Mazdoor Sabha, R Karumalaiyan of CITU, Sheo Prasad Tiwari of Trade Union Co-ordination Centre, Manali Shah of Self Employed Women’s Association and Deepak Kumar Jaiswal of National Front of Indian Trade Unions.
The role of the Board includes administration of the funds, delegation of administrative and financial powers for administration of the schemes, appointment of officers and staff, maintenance of accounts of income and expenditure and determining the annual rate of interest for a total of over 29 crore subscribers, out of which around 6 crore are active contributing subscribers.
