Wednesday, 20 April 2016

Government Cancels New PF Withdrawal Norms, Says Old System Will Continue

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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