The Union ministry of labour and employment had relaxed the norms for withdrawal of provident fund (PF) deposits in view of the financial crisis faced by people due to the coronavirus outbreak, but many beneficiaries in Ludhiana have failed to avail the benefit as they submitted incomplete bank details while applying for claims.
According to the record with the regional office of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), a total of 17,726 advance withdrawal claim requests were received by the regional office from April 1 to May 5. However, a total of 2,598 claims have been rejected by the department so far while a sum of ₹20.9 crore has been disbursed since April 1.
Dheeraj Gupta, regional commissioner, said that the major reason behind the rejection of claims is the difference in the bank account seeded in KYC/UAN (Universal Account Number) and the bank account attached with the online claim form.
“Sometimes, people change their bank accounts, but fail to get them updated with the PF account. The difference in the bank IFSC code number, illegible uploaded PDF copy of bank passbook or cheque book are among the other major reasons behind the rejection of advance claims,” said Gupta.
Gupta said, “Sometimes, the cheque or the passbook attached with the claim did not open or showed error due to incorrect uploading by the beneficiaries.”
{{/usCountry}}Gupta said, “Sometimes, the cheque or the passbook attached with the claim did not open or showed error due to incorrect uploading by the beneficiaries.”
{{/usCountry}}Gupta, however, said the department is contacting all the beneficiaries and informing them about the errors, that led to the rejection of the claims so that they can reapply by following all the procedures.
“If you have not received the settled amount for long, please check the bank details in your UAN and in the cheque leaf enclosed by you along with the form. If there is any mismatch, the settled amount is not credited and is returned,” read the recent tweet made by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its Twitter handle.
GOVT NOTIFICATION
As per the notification dated March 30, the ministry had relaxed the rules of PF withdrawals to help those in financial distress due to the pandemic. As per the notification, EPFO subscribers can either withdraw 75% of their savings or up to a maximum of three months’ basic pay and dearness allowance from their PF accounts, whichever is lower. Once a subscriber withdraws the amount, it cannot be replenished after the situation improves.