Some pension or other an employee, who had worked throughout the prime of life, gets is a great blessing for him. The provident fund pension scheme brought out by the Central government in 1995 for those retiring from private institutions was something that virtually ridiculed the employees. There were persons who took Rs 45 each as PF pension.

The scheme was launched with the promise that the pension amount will be revised every five years but even after 20 years nothing, as promised, has happened from the part of the government. It was not long before when the minimum amount of provident fund pension was increased to Rs 1000. It was due to the adamance of the EPFO that handles Provident Fund that pension amount was not hiked from time to time.

From the beginning, EPFO was against giving high pension to retired employees. Though pension scheme was instituted prioritising the welfare of the employees, what EPFO did was a research of sorts to find out how the pension could not become beneficial to the ex-employees.

By bringing in many restrictions and regulations, the beneficiaries could get only a pittance as pension, irrespective of whatever fat salary they used to draw. This totally arbitrary approach of the EPFO is the one that is going to change with an important verdict of the Supreme Court..

The Supreme court via an order upheld an earlier high court verdict that the ex-employees are eligible to draw PF pension on the basis of the real salary they were drawing.

This is the final victory of long legal war waged by ex-employees of private institutions alone and in groups. Though EPOF had fund to revise he pension once in five years, it was not ready for it and this shows its autocracy.

But the EPFO is even forgetting that the pension fund survives with the help of shares paid by the employees and management. Even if we consider the interest itself of Rs 35000 cr that lies with PF fund without claimers, this is more than enough to give high pension.

When the Central government increased the old age pension to Rs 1500, the pension given to people who had worked more two or three decades in private institutions was only a meagre amount of Rs 50 or Rs 100.

Though there was constant clamour in Parliament against this injustice, none of the governments were able to take a decision. Finally, the court of justice itself had to step in with the help, when people’s governments failed.

However, Central labour department is waiting after filing an appeal against the high court order that pension should be given to all PF subscribers without considering the salary limits.

The irony is that EPFO and labour department which are liable to protect the interests of employees are vying with each other to see how the benefits can be denied to its legal beneficiaries.

Even when this is the reality, the promises given in manifestoes of political party in the run up to the election are ones that dazzle people’s eyes.