Gurgaon: Firm booked for siphoning off employees’ provident fund

A firm supplying manpower to power distribution company Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) was booked for fraud on the complaint of a discom official, police said.The firm allegedly did not pay its employees the provident fund and insurance dues worth Rs 8 lakh that it had collected from the discom.

A firm supplying manpower to power distribution company Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) was booked for fraud on the complaint of a discom official, police said.

The firm allegedly did not pay its employees the provident fund and insurance dues worth Rs 8 lakh that it had collected from the discom. (HT File)

The firm allegedly did not pay its employees the provident fund and insurance dues worth Rs 8 lakh that it had collected from the discom.

In the complaint, Manoj Yadav, sub-divisional officer (SDO) of sub-urban division, DHBVN, said the discom had hired a number of data operators through a firm, Priya Electronics, based in Hisar. The firm provided skilled and unskilled manpower as assigned by the discom.

The tender remained with the contractor firm from January 2008 to July 2011. As per conditions of the contact, the discom had to pay the firm an amount equivalent to the prescribed salaries of data entry operators along with other liabilities such as employees’ provident fund (EPF), employees’ state insurance (ESI) and service tax.

The amount paid to the contractor against EPF and ESI had to be deposited in the accounts of employees through the department concerned, the complaint mentioned.

Yadav said the firm pocketed Rs 7,99,071 instead of paying the employees. He noticed the pending file and after a probe referred it to the police for filing an FIR. An FIR was registered against the contractor firm at the Sector 40 police station under sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (fraud) of the Indian Penal Code.

Assistant sub-inspector Naresh Kumar, the investigating officer, said officials of the firm would be called for to record their statements and appropriate action would be initiated against them.