VADODARA, Sept 28: Defaulting on payment of provident fund dues is nothing new; it happens everywhere across the country. When the government agency responds with alacrity, however, and takes steps on this front, it may be time for would-be defaulters to think twice.Faced with dues running into several crores of rupees, the Gujarat Provident Fund Commissionerate has set in motion a plan - said to be the first of its kind in the country - to jail defaulting employers. The commissionerate is learnt to have already approached the Home department for space in jails and police custody to imprison the guilty and has received assurances of cooperation. Interestingly, the commissionerate always had the power to do so under the EPF and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, but never used it. In the past, the commissionerate would ask the police to register a comparatively mild offence of cheating (420 IPC); now, a more serious case of cheating under Sections 405, 406 and 409 IPC (non-bailable) wil be filed.Sources in the commissionerate HQ at Ahmedabad, and the regional offices at Vadodara, Surat, Vapi and Rajkot say that the orders in this context have come from the top. While State PF Commissioner Ashwani Kumar avers that he has received clear instructions to get tough, Enforcement and Recovery Commissioner Sharad Singh says that a similar order had been issued at a meeting of top PF officials of the country held last week in New Delhi. Incidentally, Union labour secretary Laxmidhar Mishra, during a recent visit to Vadodara, told Express Newsline that New Delhi was keen to step up the corrective measures now.Of the 20,000-odd listed companies in Gujarat, at least 220 defaulters are being zeroed in on. These companies had deducted the PF from the employees' salary, but had not deposited the same with the commissionerate. So, to speed up the process, the commissionerate's staff strength has been beefed up, filling vacancies and setting up the Vapi office in the past three months.The tendency of some employers to eat up the 25 per cent PF of their employees is being attributed in part to the general recession prevailing in industry; another reason, say sources, is the lethargic administration.Malti Baad, the executive director of the Vadodara Employers' Organisation (VEO), which has more than 250 industrial units on its membership rolls, told Express Newsline she was aware of action being planned by the commissionerate. ``We also educate our members on the law, though the fact remains that there have been a couple of black sheep in the organisation (VEO).'' At the same time, she said, the commissionerate should also appreciate industries' problems and avoid implicating them without sufficient reason.
