One of our team members, Mr Rishabh Jain, received a mail from Mr KM Thomas. Thomas is a 68-year-old man living in Tamil Nadu. In his mail, Thomas stated that he was a PF pensioner since the past 18 years and had started receiving his pension once he turned 50 years old. Thomas had opted for the ROC 3 scheme under PF pension and would lose his pension after 20 years. An RTI submitted by Thomas also revealed that some 36451 other people were going to lose their pension under this scheme as well. In this article, we bring this ROC 3, a hidden pension rule to light and focus on its repercussions as well as how to overcome them.
Table of Contents
Who is KM Thomas?
Upon further probing, we got to know that Thomas had worked for Indian Express and India Today. In 2000 he left his job and began an online newsweekly on his own. He was aware that he would not be taking up any future employment so he started in EPF pension scheme. When he visited the EPF pensioners’ portal, he was shocked to find out that his pension would be stopped from 2020 onwards.
He was aware that he lucky enough to still be able to talk and write about this issue at the moment. He was studying about this ROC 3 scheme, filing RTIs and raising awareness about this hidden pension rule. But what about the other pensioners who must have also applied for ROC 3 and were much older, if not already expired. They or their spouses would be facing similar difficulties at a much older stage in their life where raising concern over this hidden pension rule would not be an option for them.
Why will Thomas’ pension stop after 20 years?
When Thomas asked the authorities why his pension would be stopped after 20 years, he was told that he had opted for a short-term pension. When the pension scheme was first introduced in 1995, Thomas had studied it in detail and written an article on it in the Indian Express. But nowhere had he come across the term “short-term pension”. Neither the mention of pension stopping after 20 years. The authorities then mentioned that since Thomas had ticked the ROC 3 column in his application form, he would stop getting pension after 20 years. But Thomas stated that he ticked that only because ROC stood for Return of Capital, Nowhere did it mention the cessation of pension after 20 years.
What is this hidden pension rule – ROC 3?
ROC 3 stands for Return of Capital. It is a clause in the PF Pension Act. Under this clause, when you retire, you receive the capital you have accumulated in your pension fund. Against this, your pension amount sees a reduction. But there is absolutely no mention anywhere in this clause, that your pension stops after 20 years if you opt for this ROC 3.
Mostly pensioners are aware that they will receive their pension amount lifelong. Also, their spouses and children will keep receiving the pension when they pass away. Hence, this comes as a huge setback for those pensioners who opted for ROC 3.
While the EPFO makes it a point to talk about their achievements, they forget to raise awareness of such important hidden pension rules. So, how is it fair to stop the pension of those 36451 people because of such a hidden pension rule. Would it not be more proper to give them a chance to rectify their options? Would it not be better to make them aware of this situation? Watch our video below and share it to let others know about this grave situation too.
Try to bring this issue by submitting a complaint in the pensioners’ grievance portal.
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