The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) cannot use software-related issues as an excuse for nearly a decade’s delay in transferring money from an employee’s old PF account to his new PF account, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh has ruled according to a report in The Economic Times.
The observation was drawn from a case linked to an employee, who worked with Tech Mahindra in 2009, which he quit in 2010 to join Infosys. The HR departments linked to both the firms opened PF accounts for the employee — meaning he had two PF accounts.
To resolve this, the employee applied through Infosys to transfer the accumulated funds from his previous PF account to his current one.
Having received no response from the EPFO despite repeated efforts, the employee filed an RTI application in September 2011 and sought details on the status of his transfer application.
A 10-Years-Long Exchange
The employee’s correspondence with EPFO reportedly lasted ten years, until 16 April 2020, when EPFO transferred ₹6.21 lakh to the employee’s new PF account. However, he argued based on his calculations that he should receive ₹11.07 lakh.
This is when EPFO told the employee that interest payments were stopped because the account was classified as inoperative from April 2011. And therefore, the interest for the period from 2012-13 to 2015-16 was not credited to the employee’s account.
In May 2021, the employee filed another RTI application but to no avail. Two months later, he filed a consumer complaint against EPFO in the Chandigarh district commission and sought transfer of the balance amount along with interest, compensation, as well as litigation costs.
In response to the complaint, EPFO claimed that the system’s software application did not credit the interest for the financial year 2010-11 due to a technical error.
EPFO’s Deficiency of Service
In March 2026, the employee received an updated interest amount of ₹3.67 lakh. But he won the case only partially.
Regarding his complaint over EPFO’s deficiency of service, the Chandigarh commission reportedly observed, “It is safe to hold that there is definitely an inordinate and unexplained delay of nearly a decade on the part of EPFO in transferring the provident fund accumulations of the complainant, which in itself amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on its part, and the consumer complaint deserves to succeed to that extent.”
The commission directed EPFO to pay a lump sum amount of ₹50,000 to the complainant as compensation for the harassment caused as well as litigation expenses. Besides, the commission directed EPFO to comply with its order within 60 days, failing which, the aforesaid amount shall carry an interest of 9% per annum from the date of the order till actual realisation.