Provident fund official eased out

The labour ministry has eased out Ajay Singh, Central Provident Fund Commissioner of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), for "insubordination", according to senior officials of the ministry.

The move follows a surprise presentation by Ajay Singh to the Planning Commission early this month, in which he suggested that the body should be separated from the labour ministry and be put under the Prime Minister's Office. Singh, an Indian Revenue Service officer of the 1972 batch, had about two months to go before the end of his five-year tenure at the EPFO.

The officials said Singh's take on the EPFO had surprised the labour ministry. However, the ministry has at present decided to do nothing more drastic, like asking for a report from Singh on the issue.

Matters have been complicated as the present labour secretary, PD Shenoy, is expected to retire on Tuesday and his replacement has not been announced as yet.

EPFO officials said Singh's removal was quite abrupt. After the presentation, Labour Minister Sis Ram Ola did not call for any explanation from Singh and instead issued the orders for his removal.

Singh's salvo came at a time when the government was still wrestling with the demand made by the Left parties to hike the rate of interest on deposits with the EPFO to at least 9.5 per cent from the interim 8.5 per cent, recommended by its policy-making body, the Central Board of Trustees.

Finance ministry officials said they had not yet received any revised proposal from the labour ministry beyond the 8.5 per cent suggested earlier.

However, both Ola and Finance Minister P Chidambaram have said they are open to a revision in the rates. Ola has said the trustees will revisit the rates in March next year. If the investments made by the Fund yielded any additional benefits, it would be used to meet the interests of workers, he said.