Supreme Court Orders Wage Ceiling Revision in EPF Scheme

The Supreme Court of India has‌ instructed the Central government and ⁤the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to address, within a four-month timeframe, the revision​ of the wage ceiling for the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme (EPFS).​ This ceiling has remained at Rs 15,000⁢ per month for the past 11 years.

The directive followed a hearing concerning a public interest litigation (PIL) that argued the unchanged wage limit excludes a‍ important number of workers from ⁣the benefits of the EPFO, a crucial social security program for the organized sector. The case⁤ was heard before a Bench comprising Justices J.K. Maheshwari ⁣and Atul S. Chandurkar.

Advocates Pranav⁢ Sachdeva and Neha Rathi, representing the petitioners, asserted that the current wage ceiling is arbitrary and​ lacks correlation with inflation, minimum wage standards, or per capita income⁣ growth. They highlighted that expert panels and Parliamentary committees have repeatedly recommended ⁢revisions to the scheme.