March 15, 2018
Employee Provident Fund Organisation on Withdrawal Claims
The Employee Provident Fund Organisation (“EPFO”) vide a circular dated February 27, 2018, has mandated that any provident fund withdrawal claims for an amount higher than INR 10 lakh, must be compulsorily made online. Further, the EPFO has mandated that any pension scheme withdrawal claims for an amount higher than INR 5 lakh, must be compulsorily made online. EFPO members with authenticated AADHAR and bank details attached to their Universal Account Number (“UAN”) can submit their provident fund withdrawal/settlement/transfer claims online, according to EPFO’s website. A UAN acts as an umbrella for the multiple member IDs allotted to an individual by different establishments. Therefore, a UAN must be procured in order to submit the above mentioned claims online.
Chit Funds Act Amendment
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance (16th Lok Sabha), in its twenty-first “Report on Efficacy of Regulation of Collective Investment Schemes (CIS), Chit Funds, etc.”, had recommended legislative and administrative proposals for strengthening and streamlining of the registered Chit Fund sector. In lieu of this report as well as various stakeholder representations for the same, the Chit Funds (Amendment) Bill, 2018 amending the Chit Funds Act, 1982, was introduced on March 12, 2018.
UIDAI on AADHAR Linking
In response to the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s March 13, 2018 order to extend the deadline to link AADHAR to various services and social institutions, the Unique Identification Authority of India (“UIDAI”) responded with a series of tweets on the same day. UIDAI has clarified through these tweets that despite the Hon’ble Supreme Court’s order, the requirement to link AADHAR for opening new bank accounts and applying for tatkal passports shall persist. Tatkal passports are not a different category of passport, but merely processed faster under a tatkal application.