Postal Department Pune Ordered to Pay Rs 10.82 Crore Provident Fund Dues to 343 Casual Workers
Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 1st November 2025: The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (RPFC)-I, Pune, has directed the Postmaster General of Pune Region to deposit ₹10.82 crore towards provident fund dues for hundreds of workers engaged on a casual basis by the postal department over the past decade. The order follows an inquiry under Section 7A of the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
The case was initiated after the Akhil Bhartiya Dak Outsource Employees Union filed a complaint alleging that the postal department had been engaging around 600 workers — many termed as “college students” — for regular clerical and manual tasks without providing any employment benefits or provident fund coverage.
During the hearing, RPFC Amit Vashist noted that the department’s explanation — that such workers were “college students” engaged under an old “Earn and Learn” practice — was inconsistent and unsupported by evidence. The order observed that these individuals were, in reality, regular workers and not students, and thus qualified as employees under Section 2(f) of the EPF Act.
The inquiry revealed that between April 2015 and March 2024, the postal department had defaulted on PF contributions amounting to ₹10.82 crore, including employees’ and employer’s shares, administrative charges, and interest. The RPFC held that the Act applied to the department since the casual workers were not covered under any other government pension or provident fund scheme.
The department has been given 60 days to remit the dues into the PF accounts of affected workers. The order also directs that both the employer’s and employee’s shares must be paid by the postal department itself and not recovered from the workers’ future salaries. Any failure to comply will lead to recovery proceedings and possible penalties under the Act.
The RPFC termed the postal department’s long-standing engagement of workers under the guise of “college students” as a “reprehensible labour practice,” remarking that such conduct by a government institution was “wholly unsustainable in law.”
Assistant Commissioner (Compliance) Gaurav Tiwari said that the Provident Fund office is taking strict action against defaulting establishments across both private and government sectors. He added that employees affected by such defaults can file complaints with the PF office for appropriate legal action.
A copy of the order is to be served individually to all affected employees, with compliance to be reported to the RPFC office in Pune.
