Monday, January 20, 2020

PF benefits should extend to contractual employees: SC

Judgment came on a petition filed by a govt. company

20/01/2020, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

The benefits of the provident fund should be extended to contractual employees, the Supreme Court has held in a recent judgment.

A Bench of Justices U.U. Lalit and Indu Malhotra has held that employees who draw wages or salaries directly or indirectly from a company are entitled to provident fund benefits under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Act.

The judgment came on the basis of a petition filed by M/s Pawan Hans Limited, a government company which provides helicopter support services to the oil sector for its offshore exploration operations, services in remote and hilly areas, and charter services for the promotion of tourism.

Company versus union

The company had filed the petition against its employees’ union, the Aviation Karmachari Sanghatana, which sought uniformity in service conditions among employees.

Of a total workforce of 840 employees, the company had engaged 570 employees on regular basis, while 270 employees were engaged on “contractual” basis.

The company implemented the PF Trust Regulations only with respect to the regular employees, even though the term “employee” had been defined to include “any person” employed “directly or indirectly” under the PF Trust Regulations.

The contractual employees have been seeking parity with the regular employees, who are covered under the Pawan Hans Employees Provident Fund Trust Regulations.

No comments:

Post a Comment

NEWS TODAY 28.01.2026