Board can't decide on EPF rate

NEW DELHI: The deadlock over the interest rate on the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) continued on Tuesday as the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) of the EPF Organisation failed to arrive at any consensus at its meeting.
The decision on the interest rate has been deferred and the labour minister Sis Ram Ola called for a fourth meeting of the CBT on August 9, when he said "a final decision" would be taken by him and the matter "won''t be deferred any further".
Old timers in the CBT said what is happening is "unprecedented". They said for the first time, the board is unable to arrive at a decision on the interest rate by consensus. "This is because the whole thing has been politicised," a member said.
"This is also happening because of difficult economic circumstances due to softening of the interest regime," a senior representative of the employers said.
According to him, the divergence of views among representatives of states governed by different political parties is also complicating matters.
"Although each CBT member knows the basic rule governing the EPFO — that you cannot disburse more than what you earn — many members are sticking to their political stand and demanding a much higher rate than the 8% the fund can afford," the senior member added.
The division in the CBT was so sharp that Ola''s claim of "ek aam sahmati bani (a consensus was reached") was immediately contested by Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh representative Hansu Bhai Dave.
Correcting the minister, he said: "There was no consensus and that is why another meeting is being called."
When Ola said, "You have authorised me to take a decision unanimously", Dave quickly contradicted him saying, "We have not authorised you to take any decision, you can''t say this."
Later, CITU representative W R Vardarajan also said that the CBT had failed to arrive at a consensus. He, however, said: "We have authorised the minister to take a decision."
Vardarajan said a consensus is still possible if the government and the employers come up with a fresh proposal offering a higher rate than the 8% that they have suggested so far.
The CBT meeting witnessed sharp differences between the labour representatives on the one hand and employers and the government on the other led to the meeting getting adjourned for two hours for lunch. During the break, the labour minister rushed to the Lok Sabha, to consult the Union finance minister P Chidambaram on this issue.