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The Employees Provident Fund Organisation & Anr. Etc. vs Sunil Kumar B. & Ors. Etc.

SLP(C) · 2022 INSC 1171Decided 4 Nov 2022
SLP(C) Nos. 8658-8659 of 2019
Uday Umesh Lalit · Aniruddha Bose · Sudhanshu Dhulia

Background

In 2014 the Central Government amended the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 to raise the pensionable salary ceiling from Rs. 6,500 to Rs. 15,000 per month, but attached new conditions, including a fresh six-month option window and an additional 1.16% employee contribution on salary above the ceiling: that effectively restricted who could get a higher pension. The High Courts of Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi struck down these restrictive conditions in separate cases. The EPFO and the Union of India appealed all these rulings to the Supreme Court, and the matter was heard together with dozens of connected appeals and 54 writ petitions filed directly by employees challenging the same 2014 notification.

Decision Breakdown

The Court upheld the validity of the 2014 notification's basic framework (raising the ceiling to Rs. 15,000) but read down and struck several of its restrictive conditions. It held that employees of "exempted establishments" (those with their own private provident fund trusts) are equally entitled to opt for higher pension, just like employees of regular establishments, subject to transferring the employer's contribution to the pension fund. It ruled that the requirement of an earlier option under the pre-2014 scheme could not be used to disqualify members from opting for enhanced coverage now, extended the window to exercise the fresh option by four months (using Article 142 powers), and struck down the mandatory additional 1.16% employee contribution as beyond the powers of the 1952 Act, though it suspended that specific relief for six months to give the government time to find an alternative funding source. Employees who had already retired before 1 September 2014 without exercising the earlier option were held not entitled to the benefit of the judgment.

Lesson Learnt

This is the landmark "EPS-95 higher pension" ruling. It confirms that eligible EPF members (including those in exempted establishments) can opt for a pension calculated on their actual higher salary rather than the old low ceiling, but the right is time-bound and conditional on exercising the option and completing the fund transfer; missing procedural deadlines or having already retired without opting earlier can permanently forfeit the benefit.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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