The Delhi High Court on Friday extended the deadline for citizens to add them Aadhaar number with universal account number (UAN). The new deadline is now November 31, 2021, and linking/verification needs to be done by this time. Failure to do so will result in the employer’s contribution not being credited to the employee’s account. you will also lose EPF Benefits If it is not done. These benefits include COVID-19 advances, insurance benefits etc.
In the judgment, Justice Pratibha M Singh said that till the time limit, the employer will be allowed to deposit the provident fund even for those employees who have not completed the Aadhaar-UAN linking. The judge said that no coercive action would be taken against him. The judge also held that unless the issue of compulsorily ceding is legally valid or not, the failure to substantiate or verify one’s grounds, shall cause the employee to be liable under the Act. benefits cannot be excluded. According to a PTI report, this was stated in an earlier order dated September 17, 2021.
The court, hearing a petition by Association of Industries and Institutions, said that the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) will appoint a grievance redressal officer. This officer may then be approached by the members of the petitioner or any other employer to ensure that the deposit is not delayed.
On the other hand, for employees who have already submitted their Aadhaar to EPFO, the provident fund can be deposited immediately and will not require additional verification from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) while waiting for the verification process . Take the place
These changes come in the light of the petitioner, a consortium of various entities and individuals, owning and running industrial/commercial establishments, factories, institutions, who have moved the court against the EPFO circular dated June 1, 2021. turned. This earlier circular made it mandatory to link Aadhaar with UAN under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. Subsequently, the central government extended the deadline to September 1.
The petitioner claimed that there were several instances where there was a mismatch between the Aadhaar database and the EPFO’s database. This resulted in many employers being forced not to hire employees who did not have proper Aadhaar cards. The PTI report said that the petitioner termed it as a ‘massive bias’ as a result of the EPFO order.
As a result of the pandemic, many migrant workers who had previously moved out of major cities and their home villages tried to reconnect with their employers after returning. However, they were unable to do so as they could not arrange the supporting documents that would allow linking of Aadhaar with UAN.
Speaking on the extension of the deadline, Vaibhav Bhardwaj, Partner, IndusLaw said, “This is a progressive step as it will reduce the procedural and compliance requirements of the employer. Additionally, employees will also get a real-time update of the contributions being credited to their accounts on a monthly basis, while the process of withdrawal, transfer and interest credit will be simplified.
“The move is also in line with the government’s recent drive towards mobilizing a national database for unorganized workers and will help lakhs of underprivileged workers get the benefits of various welfare schemes,” Bhardwaj said.
It should also be noted that the EPFO had given a deadline of December 31 for establishments in the North-Eastern regions of India as well as certain sections of establishments, however, no further extension was given in the general context for those employees, This has come on the basis of EPFO’s claims that ‘sufficient time’ has elapsed since the initial notification in October 2017.
The court said that as per the PTI report, the total number of employees whose Aadhaar seeding and verification is yet to be done is 2,926,479.
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