Govt notifies higher pension for 6.3 lakh EPS pensioners who opted for commutation.

The Labour ministry has notified the restoration of full pension after 15 years of retirement for pensioners under Employee Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme who have commuted part of their pension at the time of retirement. The move is expected to result in substantial increase in pension for those Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) pensioners who retired before September, 26, 2008 and had opted for partial commutation of pension which is about 6.3 lakh pensioners. The higher/full pension benefit will be restored after 15 years from the date of receiving commuted pension at the time of retirement. As per Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) rules, an EPFO member who retired before September 26, 2008 could get maximum one-third of his/her pension as lump-sum i.e. commuted pension and remaining two-thirds was paid as monthly pension to an employee for his/her lifetime. As per current EPF rules, EPFO members does not have an option to receive the commutation benefit. EPFO is an organisation that administers EPF and EPS schemes.