Good news for govt employees. Retirement fund regulator EPFO has extended the deadline for uploading salary details etc. on the website in respect of 3.1 lakh pending applications for pension on higher salary for employers, till 31 January 2025. In a statement, the labour ministry said an online facility has been provided by the EPFO for submission of applications for verification of options/combined options for pension at higher wages. In compliance with the Supreme Court’s order dated November 4, 2022, the facility was introduced on February 26, 2023, for eligible pensioners or members, to be made available only till May 3, 2023.
However, considering the representations of the employees, the time limit was extended to 26th June 2023 to provide the eligible pensioners/members with the full four months time to file the application. He was also given an additional time of 15 days to rule out any difficulty. This led to the last date for submission of applications to 11th July 2023 and a total of 17.49 lakh applications were received from pensioners/members till this date.
The date was extended earlier as well
However, even after the employers’ and employers’ associations requested for extension of time for uploading salary details, the deadline for online submission of salary details etc. was first extended till 30 September 2023, then till 31 December 2023 and then to 31 May 2024.
Despite such a long time extension, it was observed that more than 3.1 lakh applications for verification of options/combined options were still pending with the employers. “Therefore, employers are now being given a ‘last chance’ till January 31, 2025 to ensure that they dispose of these pending applications and upload them at the earliest,” the ministry said.
The employers were also requested to furnish replies/update information by January 15, 2025 in more than 4.66 lakh cases where the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has sought additional information/clarification in respect of applications received and scrutinized by it.
