Rourkela Steel Plant: All eyes on Supreme Court over pension hike

ROURKELA: With the Employees’ Pension Scheme-1995 (EPS-95) remaining embroiled in litigation over demand for revision of pension based on actual salary, the workers and officers of the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) have pinned their hope on the Supreme Court.The EPS-95 is managed by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) under the Ministry of Labour. Facing litigations at various courts in the country, the EPFO has moved the apex court, sources said.

Recently, two unions of the RSP had moved the Orissa High Court and three months ago, all trade unions along with the RSP Executives’ Association (RSPEA) staged a joint demonstration in front of the EPFO office here. They demand deduction of an employee’s contribution based on actual salary as per an earlier SC ruling in this regard. In January, the BMS-affiliated Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS), the recognised trade union of RSP, had filed a writ petition in the High Court. 

General secretary of RIKKS HS Bal said a week ago, they received a communication from the EPFO counsel appealing for transfer of the petition to the SC for effective disposal. After consultation with their advocate, they would take appropriate decision. With the Central Government not heeding to their legitimate demand, they are fully resting their hope on the SC, he said and added that any favourable direction from the apex court would not only benefit SAIL workers and executives, but also all employees and officers of PSUs.

Spokesperson of the INTUC-affiliated Rourkela Shramik Sangh (RSS) NR Samal said to a petition of the RSS, the HC in third week of January had directed the EPFO authorities to consider taking appropriate decision on the issue in 45 days.Under the EPS-95, the EPFO has fixed a maximum salary ceiling of `15,000 and `8.33 per cent Provident Fund (PF) gets deducted from the employees’ salary. As per an earlier SC ruling, the RSS also demanded deduction of 8.33 per cent PF on basic pay and dearness allowance of an employee, he said.

President of RSPEA and member of Steel Executives’ Federation of India (SEFI) Bimal Bisi said if needed, RSPEA and SEFI may also petition the Supreme Court. Reluctant to deduct higher PF on full salary in May 2017, the EPFO had issued a circular treating SAIL as an exempted establishment as the PF Trust of SAIL manages the PF corpus, he added and demanded to withdraw the circular.