Crores of people had waited for the Supreme Court verdict in the Provident Fund case. However, the three-bench SC verdict has saddened those who had retired from service and those who are still working. As far as those who have retired, they must wait till legal experts decipher how the verdict is going to affect them. Those who expected higher pension in tandem with their higher salaries is bound to be depressed by the verdict.

The reality is that the court has not given a specific verdict about the higher pensions. The Supreme Court has also upheld some of the earlier verdicts given by the Kerala High Court and Rajasthan High Court concerning PF. The verdict of the SC is on the pleas submitted by the Central Labour Ministry, Employees Provident Fund Organization, and Tata Motors against the High-Courts’ verdict. Employee organizations also became parties to the case.

According to the High Court verdict in 2018, the employees had the right to get higher pensions as per their salary. The verdict also directed the employees to pay the higher amount as decided by the EPFO. The verdict of the Rajasthan High Court was also similar to this.

The verdict, which abolishes the salary limit to receive a PF pension, might be satisfying for private sector employees. The extension of the time limit to join the pension plan by four more months is beneficial. The Supreme Court has also cancelled the amendment which stipulated extra payment of 1.16% of salary for those who earn more than Rs.15,000. Other than these three benefits it is not known if other provisions in the verdict has any benefits for the PF members. For that a detailed study of the verdict is necessary.

The most awaited aspect of the verdict by pensioners and crores of others is whether there would be an increase in pension in accordance with a higher salary. However, there is no decision concerning this. The Supreme Court had accepted the Central Government’s policy to fix the PF Pension for those who are retiring by taking the average of the salary they drew in the last 60 months of their service. This is a setback for the employees. The employee unions had demanded that an average of only the last 12 months of the employee’s service must be taken when deciding the PF pension.

PF pension plan was introduced in 1995 to high hopes from the employees and labourers. The promise was that every five years the plan will be reviewed and the pension amount reformed. But later it was seen that the Central Government and EPFO had gone back on their promises. Those who joined the plan in 1995 are still drawing a low pension. Only recently, the pension amount of Rs.200 and Rs.300 was raised to Rs.1000.

This meagre amount was given to those who had spent thirty and forty years working and facing difficulties in the latter half of their lives. Even social pensions are higher than this. The verdict does not state if those who retired before 2014 will get any benefits. Those who fall in this category have nothing to be happy about the verdict.