look news india
In a major relief, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has announced that certain categories of employees are not required to link Aadhaar for settlement of their material claims. Generally, EPFO subscribers have to link their UAN (Universal Account Number) with Aadhaar for claim settlement. Now EPFO has given clarification. This will provide relief to many people.
Relief given to EPFO
-International workers who have left India without obtaining Aadhaar even after completing their work.
-An Indian worker who moved abroad permanently and acquired citizenship without Aadhaar.
-Nationals of Nepal and citizens of Bhutan who fall within the definition of employee and work and establishment covered under the EPF and MP Act but do not reside in India and consequently do not have Aadhaar.
The physical claims of these members should be accepted and final settlement should be done to confirm the genuineness of the member on the basis of alternative identity documents like passport in case of international workers or citizenship identity certificate/document for Nepalese and Bhutanese workers . Procedure must be followed. It is also important to check PAN and bank account etc. to check their eligibility for these benefits.
EPFO in its circular also highlighted that due diligence should be done in these cases, verification details should be properly entered and request to OIC should be made in the e-office file created for the purpose. As part of due diligence, officials may verify bank accounts in all cases and if the balance exceeds Rs. Confirmation can be sought from the employer only if it is more than Rs 5 lakh. For settlement, the credit mode will be NEFT, mentioned further in the circular.
UAN must be generated compulsorily
Meanwhile, EPFO has clarified that if members do not already have a UAN then they will have to compulsorily generate a UAN. The requirement to link Aadhaar only to UAN has been removed as they are unable to obtain the Unique Identity Card at this time.
