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Informist, Friday, Jul. 17, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has rolled out a one-time dispute resolution scheme to facilitate recovery of penal damages from employers who default on paying or transferring provident fund contributions, the labour ministry said Friday. The scheme took effect on Jun. 29 and will be open for six months, the ministry said in a press release. It covers cases where orders for penalty or damages are under challenge before judicial forum.

 

The scheme – called Vishwas, 2026 – also allows settlement of disputes related to final damages or penalty orders where recovery is pending or only partly made from these employers who defaulted on provident fund transfers. Cases where notices have not been issued or have been issued but final orders for damages or penalty are yet to be passed can also be resolved under this scheme, the ministry said.

 

Further, the scheme will take consideration of damages or penalty for defaults pertaining to the period prior to Jun. 14, 2024, and would recalculate it at substantially reduced rates, according to the release. The ministry detailed the revised rates as 0.25% per month for defaults up to two months, 0.50% per month for defaults from two to less than four months, and 1.00% per month for defaults exceeding four months. "These concessional rates are intended to encourage employers to resolve pending disputes expeditiously," the ministry said.

 

The scheme contains detailed provisions regarding adjustment of amounts already paid towards damages or penalty, regulation of statutory pre-deposits made for filing appeals, and settlement of pending cases in a fair and transparent manner. However, establishments where penalty or damages have already been fully recovered, cases involving fraud, misappropriation or deliberate falsification of records, and cases where the applicable statutory interest has not been fully deposited are excluded from the scheme, the labour ministry said.  End

 

Reported by Shweta

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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