763 private placement agencies violated PF norms

NEW DELHI: The government today said 763 private placement agencies are reported to have violated the provisions of Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment Kodikunnil Suresh stated this while replying to a question in Rajya Sabha on whether private placement agencies supplying contract workers to government departments have come under the scanner of EPFO for allegedly stripping workers of salaries and evading Provident Fund payments.

He said some instances of private placement agencies defaulting in remittance of Provident Fund dues have come to the notice of Employees' Provident Fund Organisation.

"As per statistics available with EPFO, as on 30-11-2013, 763 private placement agencies are reported to have violated the provisions of Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 out of a total number of more than 16,000 such establishments," he added.

The Central government, he said, along with its Public Sector Units employs significant number of contract workers through outsourcing mode.

They are responsible, as principal employers, to pay Provident Fund in respect of these contract workers in accordance with paragraph 30 of the Employees' Provident Funds Scheme, 1952, he added.