EPF : Jurisdiction to conduct enquiries under Section 7A and 14B

Jurisdiction to conduct enquiries under Section 7A and 148 by officers in different hierarchies in field offices.

The Employees Provident Fund Organization have revised the authorities to conduct enquiry under sections 7A and 14B of the EPF and MP Act and the revised authorities are as under for the purpose of the conducting enquiry under the above sections.

Instructions regarding jurisdiction to conduct inquires under section 7 A and l 4B by officers in different hierarchies in the field offices, were issued by the following Head Office circulars:
i. Letter No. RRC.II/28(31)07/53677 to 53777 dated 17.10.2007.
ii. Letter No. Coord./5(16)2009/Misc./5380 dated 29.10.2009.
iii. Letter No. Coord.5(16)2009/Misc/11525 dated 11.09.2012.
iv. Letter No. CAIU/011(75)16/DL/Adm. Guidelines/16222 dated 21.09.2016

Consequent upon the conversion of all the Sub-Regional Offices to Regional Office, there is a need to revise the instructions as given in the above referred circulars. Accordingly, the jurisdiction to conduct inquires under section 7A and l4B by officers in different hierarchies in the field offices is revised and shall be as given below:-

SI.  No.	Type of Establishments	RO where In RPCF II is in- charge	In RO where RPFC-I is in-charge and no RC-II is posted	In RO where RPFC-I is in charge and where RPFC-II s also posted
1	Establishments with members up to 250	APFC	APFC	APFC
2	Establishments with members from 251 to 1000	RPFC-II/ Officer In-charge	RPFC-I/ Officer In-charge	RPFC-II/ (C & R)
3	Establishment with members from 1001 onwards			RPFC-1/ Officer In-Charge

3. RPFC-1 or RPFC-II of the Regional office can not assign the 7A & l4B cases falling in the original jurisdiction of RPFC-I or RPFC-II to an officer working under him. Additional CPFC (Zone), as temporary measure, can assign the 7A & 14B cases falling under the original jurisdiction of RPFC-I or RPFC-II to another RPFC-1 or RPFC-II in the zone only if the workload of RPFC-I or RPFC-II has reached unmanageable limit or where there is no RPFCI/II in the Regional Office on account of transfer, leave or any other reason to be recorded in writing.

Yours faithfully,

M. Narayanappa

Addi. Central PF Commissioner - HQ (Compliance)

Earlier

Section 7A in The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952

Determination of moneys due from employers

1. The Central Provident Fund Commissioner, any Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner, any Deputy Provident Fund Commissioner, any Regional Provident Fund Commissioner, or any Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner may, by order,-
• (a) in a case where a dispute arises regarding the applicability of this Act to an establishment, decide such dispute; and
• (b) determine the amount due from any employer under any provision of this Act, the Scheme or the Pension Scheme or the Insurance Scheme, as the case may be, and for any of the aforesaid purposes may conduct such inquiry as he may deem necessary.
2. The officer conducting the inquiry under sub-section (1) shall, for the purposes of such inquiry, have the same powers as are vested in a court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, for trying a suit in respect of the following matters, namely :-
• (a) enforcing the attendance of any person or examining him on oath ;
• (b) requiring the discovery and production of documents ;
• (c) receiving evidence on affidavit ;
• (d) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses; and any such inquiry shall be deemed to be a judicial proceeding within the meaning of Sections 193 and 228, and for the purpose Section 196, of the Indian Penal Code.
3. No order shall be made under sub-section (1), unless the employer concerned is given a reasonable opportunity of representing his case.
• (3-A) Where the employer, employee or any other person required to attend the inquiry under sub-section (1) fails to attend such inquiry without assigning any valid reason or fails to produce any document or to file any report or return when called upon to do so, the officer conducting the inquiry may decide the applicability of the Act or determine the amount due from any employer, as the case may be, on the basis of the evidence adduced during such inquiry and other documents available on record.
4. Where an order under sub-section (1) is passed against an employer ex parte, he may, within three months from the date of communication of such order, apply to the officer for setting aside such order and if he satisfies the officer that the show-cause notice was not duly served or that he was prevented by any sufficient cause from appearing when the inquiry was held, the officer shall make an order setting aside his earlier order and shall appoint a date for proceeding with the inquiry:
   Provided that no such order shall beset aside merely on the ground that there has been an irregularity in the service of the show-cause notice if the officer is satisfied that the employer had notice of the date of hearing and had sufficient time to appear before the officer.
   Explanation.- Where an appeal has been preferred under this Act against an order passed ex parte and such appeal has been disposed of otherwise than on the ground that the appellant has withdrawn the appeal, no application shall lie under this sub-section for setting aside the ex parte order.
5. No order passed under this section shall be set aside on any application under sub-section (4) unless notice thereof has been served on the opposite party.

Section 14-B: Power to recover damages

Where an employer makes default in the payment of any contribution to the Fund, the Pension Fund or the Insurance Fund or in the transfer of accumulations required to be transferred by him under sub-section (2) of Section 15 or sub-section (5) of Section 17 or in the payment of any charges payable under any other provision of this Act or of any Scheme or Insurance Scheme or under any of the conditions specified under Section 17, the Central Provident Fund Commissioner or such other officer as may be authorised by the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, in this behalf may recover from the employer by way of penalty such damages, not exceeding the amount of arrears, as may be specified in the Scheme:
Provided that before levying and recovering such damages, the employer shall be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard: Provided further that the Central Board may reduce or waive the damages levied under this section in relation to an establishment which is a sick industrial company and in respect of which a scheme for rehabilitation has been sanctioned by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction established under Section 4 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act,1985 (1 of 1986), subject to such terms and conditions as may be specified in the Scheme.

Enclosed is the internal circular of the EPFO dated: 22.6.2017 issued to their field functionaries. Please note the changes in the Authorities for hearing and disposal of the matters under sections 7A and 14B of the EPF Act.

http://www.epfindia.com/site_docs/PDFs/Circulars/Y2017-2018/C1_Inquiry7A14B_6242.pdf