Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) In a major relief, the Central Government has announced that certain sections 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 settlement of claims. Now EPFO has given clarification. This will provide relief to many people.
Relief has been given to EPFO:
- International workers who have left India after completing their assignment but without obtaining Aadhaar.
- An Indian worker who permanently migrated to a foreign country and obtained citizenship without Aadhaar.
- Citizens of Nepal and citizens of Bhutan who fall within the definition of employee and work for and are covered by an establishment covered under the EPF and MP Act but are not resident in India and consequently do not have Aadhaar.
Therefore, physical claims from 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 such as passport in case of international workers or citizenship identity certificate/document for Nepalese and Bhutanese workers. Procedure should be followed. It is also important to check their eligibility for these benefits like PAN and bank accounts etc.
EPFO in its circular also highlighted that due diligence should be taken in these cases, details of verification should be duly recorded and a request to OIC to process such cases should be made in the e-office file to be created for the purpose. Approval can be taken. As part of due diligence, officials may verify bank accounts in all cases and confirmation from the employer may be sought only if the balance exceeds Rs 5 lakh. For settlement, the mode of credit will be NEFT, the circular further mentioned.
UAN must be generated compulsorily
Meanwhile, EPFO has clarified that if members do not already have a UAN then they will have to generate the UAN compulsorily. The need to link Aadhaar with UAN only has been done away with as they are unable to obtain the Unique Identity Card at this time.
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