Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 5: While appreciating the Govt move to announce Amnesty Scheme under Provident Fund Act, Federation of Industries Jammu today described it as step in right direction.
In a meeting of the FOIJ held here today under the chairmanship of Lalit Mahajan the members described that the Amnesty Scheme announced by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt of India Under Provident Fund Act is a step in right direction and it will provide great relief to the industrialists in the State.
The members lauded the Notification No.1190 to 1192 dated 30-12-2016, issued by Ministry of Labour & Employment, by the virtue of which, employers of Industrial units can enroll their employees as members under the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme against the payment of a minimum damage fee of rupee one per year of default for a period April Ist, 2009 to December 31, 2016.
Mahajan informed the members that under this scheme a 3-months period from January Ist, 2017 to March 31, 2017 is granted to employers to avail the amnesty under the scheme and will have to pay just Rs one per annum as damages for not registering their employees earlier with a provision of only the employer’s contribution has to be deposited for the default period.
During the course of discussions it was resolved that, to provide relief to the Industrial Sector of the State under the said Scheme, the matter should be taken up with the Minister for Finance, Labour and Employment to extend the benefits of the said scheme to Industrial Sector of our State and necessary notification in this regard may be issued as early as possible so that the employers covered under the Scheme may take the benefit of the same whose cases are lying in the court of law filed by the Provident Fund Department due to non compliance of Act.
Senior FOIJ members Rajesh Jain, Jatinder Aul, Romesh Badyal, Ajit Bawa, Vijay Aggarwal, SB Abrol and Ajay Langar were also present.