Supreme Court Seeks Review of EPF Wage Ceiling

The Supreme Court has asked the Central government and the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to take a decision within four months on revising the wage limit under the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme (EPFS). The wage ceiling has not been changed for the past 11 years.

A Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Atul S. Chandurkar gave this direction while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL). The petition pointed out that because the wage limit has remained the same for many years, a large number of workers are now excluded from the EPFO.

The EPFO is a social security scheme meant to provide financial protection to employees working in the organised sector. However, due to rising salaries and inflation, many workers earn more than the current wage ceiling and are therefore not covered under the scheme.

The court noted that keeping the wage limit unchanged for such a long time defeats the purpose of the welfare scheme. It said the government and the EPFO must review the issue and take a clear decision within the given time frame.

With this direction, the Supreme Court has pushed the authorities to reconsider the wage ceiling so that more workers can benefit from the provident fund scheme and receive social security support.