Delhi, 4th November 2022: The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the validity of the Employees’ Pension (Amendment) Scheme of 2014. However, the court set aside a limit of Rs 15,000 monthly salary for joining the pension fund. The 2014 amendment capped the maximum pensionable salary, inclusive of basic pay and dearness allowance, at Rs 15,000 per month.

Before the revision, the maximum pensionable salary was Rs 6,500 per month. A bench of Chief Justice U.U. Lalit, Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia heard the matter today. The bench said that the employees who have not exercised the option of joining the pension scheme will have to do so within six months.

The bench said that the eligible employees who could not join the scheme till the last date should be given an additional chance. There was a lack of clarity in the judgments passed by the High Courts of Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi. The bench struck down the condition in the 2014 plan that employees would have to make an additional contribution of 1.16 per cent on wages above Rs 15,000.

However, the court said this part of the judgment would be suspended for six months. With this, the officials will be able to collect the funds. The Employees’ Provident Fund Organization and the Center had challenged the decision of the High Courts of Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi, which quashed the 2014 scheme.