Workers of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation have called on the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation to expedite resolution of pension disputes, transfer delays, and technical issues impacting thousands of employees amid broader national challenges with higher pension claims.
Employees of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation have pressed the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation to clear a backlog of pension and provident fund issues affecting thousands of workers, including disputed higher pension claims, transfer delays and technical failures on its portal. The request came during a meeting in Hyderabad on Friday between senior RTC officials, union representatives and P. Sreekanth, the regional provident fund commissioner for Hyderabad, according to the delegation.
The RTC joint action committee said it wanted immediate action so eligible staff could receive higher pension benefits under the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Employees’ Pension Scheme. The committee said about 6,000 applications had been rejected and urged the fund body to reopen the door for roughly 8,000 more workers who missed payment deadlines because of late demand notices, portal problems, poor awareness or financial strain.
The union leaders also asked the EPFO to recalculate pension using revised salary and dearness allowance figures linked to the 2013 and 2017 pay revision commissions, rather than the so-called double slab method. They said the current approach was cutting benefits by 30% to 40% for some employees and did not reflect the court’s intent.
Alongside the pension dispute, the delegation sought immediate sanction of pensions for workers above 58 who had already applied, a refund of nearly ₹35 crore in EPF contributions from employees who stayed in service beyond that age and faster settlement of claims by retirees and families of deceased workers. It also pressed for a separate provident fund code for APSRTC, saying the present arrangement tied to TSRTC has created administrative hardship since Andhra Pradesh’s bifurcation.
The appeal comes amid a wider national backlog in higher pension cases. Outlook Money reported in July that EPFO had processed 98.5% of about 15 lakh higher wage pension applications, but most had been rejected. The Indian Express said the labour ministry had ordered an audit after the fund organisation flagged an unusually high rejection rate, while EPFO has also been working through grievance redressal and a new centralised IT system.
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