New Delhi: The central government on Tuesday
decided to cancel its notification restricting the complete withdrawal of
Provident Fund (PF). Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said the old system
will continue.
This cancellation of the new norms
means that an employee can now withdraw the entire corpus accumulated under the
EPF tax free including the employers’ share of 3.67 percent.
“The notification issued on February,
10, 2016 is cancelled. Now the old system will continue,” Dattatreya said at a
press conference. “I will take ratification from CBT (Central Board of Trustees
of EPFO),” he said after violence rocked Bengaluru for the second day when
garment industry workers torched several buses and attacked a police station
protesting against the tightening of rules.
The government had come under fire
from various angles, especially from the salaried class, following the
announcement that employees would not be allowed to withdraw their full PF
contribution amount till they attend the age of 58 years.
Giving reasons for the rollback,
Dattatreya said, “The reason is the request of trade unions. The earlier
decision (to tighten the PF withdrawal norms) was also taken by the opinion of
the trade unions. Now, when the trade unions are requesting, then we have
rolled back the decision.”
People have also launched online campaign
against the decision, which was to be implemented from February 10 but was
later put on hold till April 30. Protesters pelted stones at Hebbagodi Police
Station in Bengaluru and torched seized vehicles parked there, as the
spontaneous agitation with no trade union leading it spun out of control.
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