Key decisions are taken at the 229th meeting of the Central Board of Trustees, the apex decision-making body of EPFO

The 229^th meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision-making body of EPFO, was held today in New Delhi under the chairmanship of Shri Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Labour & Employment, Vice-chair Shri Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Labour & Employment, co-vice chair Shri Sunil Barthwal, Secretary (Labour & Employment) and member secretary Shri Mukhmeet S. Bhatia, Central PF Commissioner, EPFO.

The following key decisions were taken by Central Board, EPF: –

• The suggestion of the Chairman to constitute four sub-committees, comprising members of the Board from employees, employers’ side as well as from representatives of the Government side was welcomed and approved by the Board. Two committees on Establishment related matters and futuristic implementation of Social Security Code will be headed by the Minister of State Labour and Employment. The remaining two committees on Digital capacity building and Pension related issues will be headed by Union Labour and Employment Secretary

• The draft 68^th annual report on the functioning of the EPFO for the year 2020-21 was approved, with the recommendation to place it before the Parliament, through Central Government.

• Approval was accorded for development of centralized IT-enabled systems by C-DAC. Post this, the field functionalities will move on a central database in a phased manner enabling smoother operations and enhanced service delivery. The centralized system will facilitate de‐duplication & merger of all PF accounts of any member. It will remove the requirement of transfer of account on change of job.

• The Board decided to empower the Finance Investment & Audit Committee (FIAC) to decide upon the investment options, on case-to-case basis, for investment in all such asset classes which are included in the Pattern of Investment as notified by Government of India.

During the meeting, Chairman, CBT released a booklet titled ‘Response to Covid – 2.0.’ The booklet is an effort to encapsulate the preparedness of EPFO to innovate and deliver uninterrupted services to its stakeholders during the difficult time of the Covid-19 pandemic. The booklet is the second in the series, the first version was released in the 228^th CBT meeting held in March 2021 at Srinagar.

 Chairman, CBT released another booklet titled ‘Nirbadh: seamless service delivery.’ This booklet is a compilation of initiatives taken and strategies adopted by EPFO towards successful digital transformation from ‘EPFO to e-EPFO’ over the last three years. These efforts have enabled EPFO to move towards a digitally interacting paperless organization, thereby enhancing the ease of living for all its stakeholders.

 In the meeting, representatives from the employers, employees and senior officers of the Central Government, State government and EPFO were also present.

Disclaimer : This is an official press release by PIB.