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The Employees Provident Fund Organization (the Retirement Fund Body) has introduced the online facility for claiming the Provident Fund. The subscribers of the scheme can now submit their Transfer Claim Forms either by the previous employer or by the current employer. This incredible facility can be availed by August end of this year. The subscribers can take advantage of this service through their EPFO member’s portal.
The amazing facility has a lot of transparency as it enables the employers to view the requests made by the members. The employers are supposed to register the Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) which is issued by a certifying authority, this is the first requirement of this online process. This digital signature is mandatory and helps to confirm the identity of the signer or the sender of the document. These digital signatures are therefore used for the verification of details which further helps in the approval of the information.
Employers can also verify and make corrections to the details of the members or subscribers through the portal if so needed. It is also the responsibility of the employer to specify the document that has been unchanged. This facility will also help in giving speedy claims to the applicants, by making the work easier and more convenient.
During this fiscal year the EPFO is expecting claims as well as transfer claims in large numbers, as the IT professionals who usually have digital signatures are assumed to be the first users of the service. EPFO is expecting transfer of 1.3 million claims in the present fiscal year, these prompt and swift online services can cover approx 1.0 million cases especially of those employed in the technology industry. As the people in the technology industry are not only more tech-savvy but also change jobs regularly due to which they will use this service more than people from other sectors.
By introducing the amended transfer claim form EPFO has taken the first step towards the online Provident Fund claim services. EPFO also has plans to initiate online services for the withdrawal of Provident Fund. The computerization of processing of claims is already being computerised and it foresees the settlement of other different claims in short span of three days for the convenience of the subscribers.
Under the present scenario the claims under EPFO can be settled within a month’s time. A central clearance house has also been set up by the EPFO to help the subscribers to apply online for the claims related to transfer as well as withdrawal. Records of the number of offices have been digitalised by the body and all details have been processed on the computer.
The speedy settlement of all types of claims by the body has been great achievement of EPFO and is now being practiced by many offices in less than 4-5 days. The computerised processing of different types of claims has geared up the work and has been beneficial for the subscribers as well as for the employers.
This story 1st reported by techcircle
