The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh has held that the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) cannot cite software glitches or technical issues to justify the delay of nearly 10 years in transferring provident fund (PF) accumulations from an employee’s old account to a new account.As per ET report, the commission partially accepted a complaint filed by employee Rajesh Garg and directed EPFO to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation and litigation costs for “deficiency in service and unfair business practices”.The case originated with Garg, who had joined Tech Mahindra in Pune in 2009, where a PF account was opened for him. After leaving the company, he joined Infosys in July 2010 and a new PF account was created, resulting in two separate EPFO accounts.In September 2010, Garg applied through Infosys for transfer of PF balance from his previous account. Despite repeated follow-ups, the transfer was not acted upon for years, prompting him to file an RTI application in September 2011 seeking details of the pending claim.EPFO finally transferred Rs 6.21 lakh to his new PF account on April 16, 2020. However, Garg claimed that the amount due should have been Rs 11.07 lakh and alleged that the interest had not been deposited for several years.EPFO argued that the account had become inactive since April 1, 2011, due to which interest was not added for the period between 2012-13 and 2015-16. It was also argued that the transfer was delayed due to technical problems in claim processing.During the proceedings, EPFO admitted that the software system had failed to credit interest for 2010-11 due to a technical error. It later transferred an additional Rs 64,841 for pending interest and later deposited another Rs 3.67 lakh after re-checking the records.The consumer commission said both the additional payments were made only after the consumer complaint was filed in July 2021.Garg further claimed that an additional Rs 1.62 lakh was still owed to him. However, the Commission rejected this demand, noting that the calculations made by it were not supported by any chartered accountant or expert opinion, while EPFO had filed its own calculation sheet stating that all dues including interest for the unclaimed credit period had been settled.“Under such circumstances, it is unsafe to assume that any amount is to be transferred by EPFO to the complainant’s account,” the commission said.However, on the issue of delays, the Commission ruled against the EPFO, stating that the organization had failed to produce any documentary evidence explaining the long delays.“Therefore, it is safe to hold that there has certainly been an inordinate and unexplained delay of about a decade on the part of the OP (EPFO) in transferring the provident fund accumulation of the complainant, which in itself amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice,” the Commission said.In the order dated March 16, 2026, EPFO was directed to pay Rs 50,000 within 60 days, otherwise interest at the rate of 9 percent per annum will be charged on the amount till payment is made.
