CAG flags lower admin charges collection by EPFO
Government auditor Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has detected under-realisation of administrative charges worth ~61.7 million from establishments at eight regional offices of retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), according to a report.
The under-realisation was detected after test checking of records at the eight EPFO regional offices during January 2015 to March 2017 period.
“Failure of eight regional offices of EPFO to verify dues remitted by the establishments with reference to the revised rate of administrative charges on Employees’ Deposit Link Insurance (EDLI) and Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) resulted in short realisation of ~61.7 million during the period from January 2015 to March 2017,” stated a CAG report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. According to the report, the EPFO had revised rate of administrative charges for EDLI and EPF schemes from January 1, 2015. These charges are deposited by the employers in the designated bank account of the EPFO.
The CAG said that test check of records of eight regional offices — Kolkata, Barrackpore, Durgapur, Howrah, Jalpaiguri, Jangipur, Park Street, and Siliguri — revealed that the registered establishments were not paying administrative charges at the revised rates that resulted in short realisation of administrative charges of ~61.7 million during January 2015 to March 2017. It said seven regional offices, excluding Jangipur, stated that the short recovery could not be tracked due to lack of an in-built ‘default tracking and management mechanism’ in the application software.