E-Paper
Ex-employees of Swastik Rubber run from pillar to post for 16 years to recover PF dues
Swastik Rubber Products union, an umbrella organisation of the former employees fighting for their PF rights has written complaint to Central Provident Fund Commissioner in August this year; and also to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking intervention in the matter
Nearly 420 employees of the now defunct Swastik Rubber Products have been running from pillar to post for the last 16 years for recovery of their Provident Fund (PF) dues from the government since 2003.
The aggrieved employees maintain that whenever they approached the Provident Fund authorities, their standard reply has been that they were not in a position to transfer their amount due to non-submission of Income Tax (I-T) returns by the company.
Many of the aggrieved ex-employees said they had toiled hard for the company for more than 35 years and had lost their jobs after the company land was sold in 2003. They alleged that the sale was in violation of their labour rights and established guidelines.
The Swastik Rubber Products union, an umbrella organisation of the former employees fighting for their PF rights had written a strongly-worded complaint to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner in August this year and also to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August seeking intervention in the matter. Responding to their letter, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had sent a letter to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) directing necessary action.
“We made sincere efforts in this matter when we visited the CMO. We had been told that our letter has been sent to some department. When we went to the department concerned, they told us that it has been sent to Labour Commissioner, Mumbai. When we visited the Labour Commissioner’s office, they told us that the letter has been sent to Labour Commissioner, Pune. Till date, we have not received any reply,” said Mahendra Kumar, coordinator of the employees.
Kumar explained, “The PF money is the sweat and blood of the employees and must be credited at the earliest. Many of the employees being old are dying while others are suffering from medical ailments since a long time. It is a serious issues involving our employee rights and human rights which have been conveniently ignored by the PF department.”
M/S Swastik Rubber Products Ltd originally was situated at Chikalwadi in Khadki. The company was referred to BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) in 1984 and according to the BIFR guidelines entered into an agreement with a private builder in 2002. Later, the builder transferred the development rights to another developer. The said builder constructed more than 750 duplex flats and commercial premises, currently known as Mont Vert Pristine Co-operative Housing Society, Bopodi.
The aggrieved parties in their petition to the PF chief stated, “Since the company property was mortgaged with lead bankers, the chairman settled the entire amount due to the bankers to get the property released. As per the rules, when a company sells its property, first the workmen dues need to be cleared and balance amount should go to the financial institution. The company did not deposit the PF amount of both, the employees’ and employer’s contribution and the issue has been pending since then,” it stated.
The petition further said, “A movable property amount of Rs 44,79,014 was received by the PF office in 2005. Instead of crediting the account to the individual account of employees of Swastik Rubbers Products Ltd , your office kept this amount in a separate account. When we requested your office to transfer this amount to the individual account of the employees, your office says that those returns were not provided by the company. This has been happening due to negligence of duty by the respective officials of your organisation,” the petition filed on behalf of former employees stated.
Subhash Chandere , a former employee alleged that his services were illegally terminated. “We were in talks for better wages and facilities and had filed a case in the court regarding the issue. We have been demanding our PF since 2003, but have not got any dues till date. We undertook a protest march to the PF office, but the PF money is not being credited to our accounts as they said that the company I-T returns have not been filed.”
Where is this money?
According to company management, the balance machinery was seized by the PF authorities, auctioned and the PF authorities got Rs 44 lakhs in 2005. As of today, the amount is estimated to be worth Rs 1.25 crore as on April 31, 2019. Till date, the PF authorities have not transferred to the individual accounts of the employees ,who maintain that the company has not submitted their monthly, half yearly and yearly return. The association has sought PM Modi’s intervention in their case
