Pensioners' body writes to Mansukh Mandaviya seeking help for higher EPS pension

A leading pensioners' organisation representing employees of PSUs and the private sector has sought the immediate intervention of the Labour Ministry in long-pending cases of higher Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) for employees of exempted establishments. According to a report by The Economic Times, the National Confederation of Pensioners Associations (NCPA) made this request in a letter written to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Mansukh Mandaviya, on November 7, 2026.

The NCPA has requested the Ministry to withdraw a circular issued by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in January 2025. This circular provides that the rules of internal trusts must be used to determine the criteria for higher EPS pensions for employees of exempted establishments. The NCPA claims that due to this circular, the EPFO is stalling many higher pension cases, arguing that the historical internal trust rules of exempted establishments only follow statutory wage ceilings.

Referring to various court cases, the organisation stated that courts have clarified that provident fund rules cannot govern pension rights. The NCPA emphasised that exempted and non-exempted establishments hold equal status regarding the approval of higher EPS pension cases. In this context, the NCPA has made five key recommendations to the Ministry.

According to the first recommendation, the directive issued on January 18, 2025, which mandates reliance on internal PF trust rules to determine eligibility for higher EPS pensions, should be formally cancelled. According to the NCPA, withdrawing this circular would provide clarity to field offices that the ceiling clauses of internal trusts cannot be used to deny higher pension cases.

The second recommendation is to remove the discrimination of 'class within a class'. The NCPA has requested the Labour Ministry to issue instructions to ensure parity between retired employees of exempted and non-exempted establishments, in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court and High Courts. The letter mentions the Bombay High Court's judgement in the case of 'Amit Gunvantrai Mehta and Others vs EPFO' dated October 19, 2026, which stated that provident fund trust rules cannot control pension rights. The letter states, "EPFO cannot reject higher EPS pension applications on the grounds that trust rules either limit the employer's contribution or lack enabling provisions for joint options."

According to the third recommendation, the Labour Ministry should direct all regional offices to uniformly process and approve joint higher EPS pension applications received from exempted establishments.

The fourth recommendation concerns the waiver of penalties or interest. Under the higher EPS pension option, pension contributions are calculated on the employee's actual salary instead of the applicable statutory wage ceiling. The EPS member is required to deposit this differential amount into their pension fund. Since this amount is deposited for previous years, the EPFO also collects interest on the outstanding contribution. The NCPA contends that if the delay in the case of an employee of an exempted trust was caused by the EPFO administration, the employee should be granted full exemption from any additional interest burden, as the delay was on the part of the EPFO and not the employee.