A major update has come from EPFO: The Supreme Court has issued this order to the government regarding salary increases..

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the central government to decide within four months on revising the salary limit for the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) scheme. This limit has remained unchanged for the past 11 years. A bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and A.S. Chandurkar passed the order on a petition filed by social activist Naveen Prakash Nautiyal.

According to the petition, the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), which administers social security schemes for employees, does not include employees with a monthly income exceeding ₹15,000 in this scheme.

Arbitrary changes to salary limits for 70 years

Petitioners' lawyers Pranav Sachdeva and Neha Rathi argued that despite the minimum wage exceeding this limit in many parts of the country, the EPF salary limit has not been revised. This is depriving a large number of employees of social security and provident fund benefits. While disposing of the petition, the apex court directed the petitioner to submit a representation to the central government within two weeks, along with a copy of the order. The government was directed to decide on the matter within four months. The petition argued that the revision of the salary limit over the past 70 years has been highly arbitrary, sometimes occurring after intervals of 13-14 years, without any correlation to economic indicators such as inflation, minimum wage, or per capita income.

Fewer employees are receiving benefits

According to the petition, "Due to this inconsistent policy, far fewer employees are benefiting from the EPF scheme today compared to the past. In 2022, an EPFO ​​sub-committee recommended increasing the salary limit and including more employees in the scheme, which was also approved by the Central Board. However, the central government has not yet decided on this." According to the petition, an analysis of the revisions made to the salary limit of the EPF scheme over the past 70 years shows that while it was an inclusive framework in the initial 30 years, in the last three decades it has clearly become a means of excluding more employees.

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