Punjab HC: Can’t deny higher EPS for delay in exercising joint option

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rejected the Employees Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) claim that retired employees who did not exercise the joint option before September 1, 2014, automatically stood excluded from higher pension under the amended scheme.

The Division Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice H.S. Grewal held that denying higher pension to such employees was unjustified, as the scheme in force at the time of their retirement did not stipulate any requirement for exercising a joint option.

The judgment came on 119 petitions challenging a series of EPFO circulars — dated December 29, 2022, January 25, 2023, and February 20, 2023 — issued after the Supreme Court’s decision in the case of “EPFO versus Sunil Kumar B”.

These circulars required employees to once again exercise the joint option to qualify for higher pension, even if they had already contributed on actual salaries beyond the wage ceiling. In many cases, the pension was capped at the statutory limit pending compliance.

Appearing in one of the lead petitions, senior advocate DS Patwalia with counsel Gauravjit S Patwalia submitted that the petitioners had consistently contributed on actual salaries, yet were arbitrarily denied the benefit.

Punjab