Workshop

One day “workshop for employers of Exempted Trusts” was organised at PDNASS on 25th November 2022. The workshop was attended by around 100 participants representing various exempted trusts from all over the country. The attendees included PSUs like ONGC and HPCL & from private trusts as well.  Mr. Atul Shobti (CBT Member), Mr. S.K. Sharma (CBT member), Mr. Jag Mohan, ACC(HQ) (Exemption) and Ms. Mridula Ghai, ACC (HQ)/Director, PDNASS inaugurated the workshop. 

During the inauguration, the dignitaries informed the attendees regarding various initiatives being taken by EPFO to improve service delivery by the organisation & improve its role as regulator for exempted establishments. Attendees raised issues like pending joint requests in field offices & delay in the processing of form 10D of EPS-1995 & impact of the recent Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgement. Regarding the joint request pendency, attendees were informed about the online facility being developed. Further, it was also communicated that the detailed guidelines regarding recent judgement are under consideration. ACC (HQ) Exemption also flagged the issue of responsibility of employers of exempted establishments for actively cleaning the data for employees before 2017 & also the need for providing services better than EPFO as it is the very basis on which exemption has been sought by respective trusts from EPFO.

The workshop consisted of 04 sessions. The first session was on the issue of ‘Regulatory framework for Exempted Trusts i.e. Grant of exemption, surrender/cancellation of exemption and ranking system’ and was discussed by Mr. Rambir Dalal, Managing Partner, Peoplecient Consulting & ex-RPFC & Mr. Deepak Kant, Assistant PF Commissioner is considered an expert in the field of Exemption. The session discussed mainly the provision of the Act & scheme under which grant of exemption & surrender/cancellation of exemption are considered. Attendees sought the answer to the many issues involved in the process of executing these provisions. Further, the attendees have also informed the transparent ranking system. The compliance audit of exempted trusts & need for a third-party audit before the surrender of trust were thoroughly discussed.

In the second session, the IT framework for Exempted Trusts- initiatives in IT, ECR/e-return/e-challan was discussed by Mr. Sanjay Kesari, Regional PF Commissioner-I (retd.). The session was highly interactive. The faculty informed the attendees to get the exemption status updated in the system. The initiatives like online 10D & online joint requests were also discussed. The basics of filing ECR & various returns were discussed in detail. And it was also clarified that the principal employer may also check the actual payment of PF & other statutory dues by contractor establishments before the final payment of their bills. The need for registration of contractors on the PE portal was duly emphasised & the process of registration on PE was explained in detail.

In the third session, Exemption: issues & challenges were discussed by representatives of KPMG, Deloitte, Darashaw, and E&Y and the discussion was moderated by Mr. Nilendu Mishra, RPFC-I (Trg.), PDNASS. The representative of these establishments spoke regarding the ranking parameters. E&Y representative discussed the efficient methods of claim settlement & grievance redressal being adopted by trusts. Darashaw representative spoke about the need for adherence to the investment notifications by the Government of India. Also, the ways to adhere to said guidelines were discussed in detail. Deloitte representative discussed the many policy issues like in which account Senior Social Security fund is required to be transferred. KPMG representative covered the need for managing the investment cycle from receipt of remittances to timely declaration of interest that too more than EPFO.

The 04th & last session consisted of Best practices in exempted trusts wherein representatives from top-rated exempted trusts M/s. HPCL, M/s. Mother Dairy, M/s. Gail India and Ms/. MSTC Ltd. shared the best practices being followed by exempted trusts. It was more of an informative session & during the session itself, many establishments shared their best practices regarding how they manage investment or settle claims in the least possible time & how grievances are escalated in case it is not addressed at the source. The workshop was highly interactive, and doubts/queries of representatives of exempted establishments were systematically handled and clarified. The participants of the workshop appreciated the role of EPFO in providing such an interactive platform for them and requested that in future the workshop should be for at least two days.