The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has extended the last date to submit applications for higher pensions till June 26, 2023, the Union labour ministry has notified.
The extension comes a day before the current deadline for the submission of applications was set to expire.
“EPFO has made arrangements for obtaining Applications for Validation of Option/Joint Option from pensioners/members as per the Supreme Court order dated November 4, 2022. To facilitate this process, an online facility has been made available. More than 12 lakh applications have been received to date. The online facility was to remain available only till May 3, 2023,” the Labour Ministry said.
In order to provide a larger window of opportunity and in order to enable all eligible persons to file their applications, “the timeline for filing applications would now be till June 26, 2023”, the statement added.
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The decision was taken after the retirement fund body received several representations from various quarters seeking an extension of time, it further said.
The timeline is being extended to facilitate and provide ample opportunity to the pensioners/members so as to ease out any difficulty being faced by them, the government noted.
“This has been decided after sympathetically considering the various demands received from employees, employers and their associations,” it stated.
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