RK Mission-run institutes to be exempted from EPF Act

new delhi: the government has decided to exempt hospitals and educational institutions run by ramakrishna mission from the purview of the employees provident fund act, official sources said saturday. this follows a request to prime minister atal bihari vajpayee from the mission on the ground that institutions run by it as also those by ramakrishna math had their own contributory benefit fund schemes for the staff, who enjoyed other facilities too.in a recent letter to vajpayee, the mission's general secretary swami smaranananda said though the mission was excluded from the pf act by virtue of two quasi-judicial orders in 1982, the issue was reopened in 1991 by the central provident fund commissioner on the basis of a supreme court judgement. however, the attorney general gave "a categorical opinion in our favour" which has also been endorsed by law minister arun jaitley, the letter claimed while requesting the prime minister to intervene personally and resolve the decade-old problem.