40 cos booked for PF default

He said these companies were charged with non-payment of provident fund contribution of employees, already deducted from their wages, running into several lakhs of rupees. As part of the drive against defaulters, the PF commissionerate had initiated this step to safeguard the interests of the working class, Sharma said.

8220;I have written to the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, RH Mendonca, to direct the concerned police officials toinitiate action against the erring managements facing charges under Section 406 and 409 of Indian Penal Code,8221; he said. In most of the cases, he said, arrests were made by the police. Apart from these private sector companies, 32 mills of NTC were also included in the list of defaulters, Sharma added.

A few companies failed to get approval of the PF Commissionerate for transferring deducted contribution of employees to the PF Trusts floated by the companies themselves. A huge sum of Rs 60 lakh was recovered from these companies towards administrative expenses while giving approval formally, Sharma said. Giving statistics of settlement of PF cases, he said 443428 cases, out of 615657 received, were settled by the end of December, 1998, an achievement of 72.03 .

8220;We are also well on the pension front,8221; sharma said, adding that upto December last year, 23636 pension cases were finalised out of 39254 applications received. The number of subscribers has shown an upward trend. From 36.10 lakh beneficiariesof 40835 industrial units, it had jumped to 36.87 lakh drawn from 43175 units,8221; he said.

Preparation of account slip, salary sheets and cheque despatches have been computerised and all regional offices would be linked with mumbai headquarters to enable speedy disposal of cases, Sharma said.