Presiding Officer of Industrial Tribunal, Bhubaneswar, BC Rath has recently passed an order in a case that the Orissa Sponge Iron and Steel Company situated at Palaspanga near Keonjhar district will have to pay Rs 8, 75, 47, 301 to its employees towards payment of Provident Fund (PF) for the period from October 2, 2012 to November 2016.
The Orissa Sponge Iron and Steel is under alleged illegal lockout now since 2012. Its employees are on dharna before the District Labour Office demanding salary and others dues.
As per the EPF Act, an employer is bound to deposit certain amount to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) which is calculated on the basis of equal amounts of contribution made by the employer and the employees. At the time of retirement, an employee withdraws the total amount with accrued interest on it. If needed, he can also take a loan on it during his service period.
There is also provision in the Act that the employer can remit the total amount to the PF Commission or deposit the same in the trust being represented by the employer and employees. Accordingly, the Orissa Sponge was depositing the PF amount in its own PF trust and transaction was going on smoothly. But a dispute started after 2012 when the company went for lockout and didn't pay the employees their dues on the ground of lockout. In this regard, some employees filed a complaint with the Assistant PF Commissioner office at Keonjhar, which passed orders to the company to pay the due to employees.
The company had filed an appeal in the Central Industrial Tribunal Bhubaneswar in 2017. Biraja Mishra was the counsel of the employees union in the tribunal.