Regressive step

Pensions should be decided by the executive, not courts

The Supreme Court has upheld a Kerala High Court judgment against the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), as a consequence of which certain amendments to how pensions have been calculated will be struck down. This will create a situation in which those who had a particularly high previously drawn salary and several years of service might see their pension raised by as much as 1,000 per cent. This is naturally not in keeping with the ethos of the provident fund, which has always been scaled towards aiding the saving and retirement of those at the lower rung of the formal