RAJYA SABHA
The Labour Minister
Dr. Sahib Singh told the Rajya Sabha today that Rs.200 crore have
been realised as statutory Provident Fund dues during the last
two financial years from defaulting establishments. He said that
out of Rs.487.7 crore outstanding Provident Fund arrears from
the public sector undertakings Rs. 125 crore were recovered while
Rs. 284 crore were unrealisable due to stay by courts etc. The
Rajya Sabha Chairman Shri Bhairon Singh Shakhawat directed the
government to take action against those PSUs which were not contributing
to the Employees Provident Fund.
Earlier, the Labour
Minister in a written reply said the total number of establishments
in the country who have defaulted for an amount of Rs.10 lakh
or more was 845 in 200-01 and 863 in 2001-02. In addition a large
number of establishments have defaulted for an amount below Rs.10
lakh. Dr. Sahib Singh said that as on March 31, 2002 the total
default was Rs.1336 crore. Out of this 77.32% is currently unrealizable
being the amount locked up in court stays, establishments registered
with BFIR, etc. He said that the default continues only 1.3% of
total holding of Rs.1,02,163.06 crore in Employees Provident Fund,
the Employees Pension Scheme and the Employees Deposit Linked
Insurance Scheme put together. The Labour Minister said that whenever
any default is detected, action is taken against defaulters. He
said that the Employees Provident Fund Organisation is going ahead
with an enquiry against M/s Precision Gauge and Tools, Noida,
Uttar Pradesh after a news item appeared in the press that the
establishment had not deposited statutory PF dues for many years.
The Minister said that directions have also been issued to file
FIR against the employers.
