Control and Management of GPF (Group D Employees)

Government of West Bengal
Finance Department
Audit Branch

No: 734-F(J)W.B. Dated:- 28.02.2018.

NOTIFICATION

Sub:- Change in control and management of General Provident Fund of Group D employees of the State

At present, the General Provident Fund (GPF) Accounts of the State Government Employees of Group A, B and C are maintained by the Accountant General, West Bengal and the General Provident Fund (GPF) Accounts of the Group D State Government Employees are maintained by their respective Head of Office. Since the General Provident Fund (GPF) Accounts are not maintained on any online platform, status of the GPF Account, i.e. balance, outstanding loan, recovery, nominations etc are not available to employees as well as the Head of Office on real-time basis.

Since the rollout of IFMS across the State, the State Government has been contemplating maintenance of the General Provident Fund (GPF) Accounts in IFMS under the supervision of a centralised office to enhance the transparency and accuracy in management of GPF Accounts and to provide employees real time access to their GPF Accounts. Therefore, to extend such facilities to Government employees of the State, a dedicated GPF module has been developed in IFMS.

Now, the Governor is pleased to decide the rollout of the said Online GPF module for the Group D State Government employees. Accordingly, as a prerequisite, the GPF balances of the employees are to be recorded in IFMS in the following manner:-

Opening Balance standing to the credit of the GPF Accounts of the Group D employees as on 01/04/2018 are to be entered online in GPF Module by the Head of Offices on the basis of manual GPF register maintained at their end. However, opening balance as on 01/04/2018 may also be entered by the Group D employees themselves by using their own user credentials, i.e. the login ID/Unique ID and password created by them for ESS in IFMS Portal, on the basis of GPF Account Statement to be issued by respective Head of Office for the financial year 2017-18.
The opening balances as on 01.04.2018 are to be entered only in respect of those Group D employees who will be in service on or after 01.04.2018.
The balances entered as per Serial No. 1 in whatever manner as above are to be approved by the respective Head of Office. GPF balances as on 01/04/2018 can be approved only by using Digital Signature Certificate (DSC). In case of not having a DSC at present, procurement and use of DSC will be guided by G.O. No. 6138-F(Y) dated- 28.11.2016 read with G.O No. 5209-F(Y) dated- 22.08.2017.
Once approved, the Head of Office shall arrange to send signed hard copies of the list of employees for whom opening balance has been approved in the format as given in Annexure I (to be generated from system) to the Director, Directorate of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance, West Bengal, Purta Bhavan, 2nd Floor, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700091. Annexure-I shall be accompanied by GPF Accounts Statements for the financial year 2017-18 for Group D employees in the format given in Annexure II as to be prepared from manual records maintained by the Head of Office.
On receipt of Annexure I and II from the Offices, Directorate of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance, West Bengal shall approve the balances on the basis of Annexure-I & II. In case of any discrepancy in between Annexure I and II, the balances may not be accepted and the Head of Offices shall have to re-initiate the process as stated in serial no. 1-4 above afresh for such employees.
The Head of Offices shall update the manual GPF registers of Group D employees within March, 2018 and issue the Accounts Statement to the Group D employees after crediting interest for the Financial Year 2017-18 within 09.04.2018.
The Head of Offices shall discontinue to maintain manual GPF register from 1st April, 2018. The manual register for maintenance of GPF Accounts of Group D employees’ updated upto March, 2018 shall be permanently preserved in the respective Heads of Offices.
Claim for final payment of GPF money of the Group D employees arising due to retirement, resignation, death or otherwise on or after 01.04.2018 shall be made as per the authority to be issued by Directorate of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance, West Bengal against submission of online sanction in Form 10A/ 10B, as the case may be.
Henceforth, Unique Id generated in the Human Resource Management System (HRMS) shall be treated as the GPF Account Number for the Group D Employees and the Heads of Offices need not allot any separate GPF Account Number to the new entrants.
Approval of balances of all Group D employees by the Heads of Offices shall be completed within 20/04/2018 and the documents as mentioned in serial no. 4 shall be sent to the Directorate of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance, West Bengal within 27/04/2018 without fail.
The user manual for GPF module and registration of DSC is available under the ‘Guidelines’ tab of the IFMS portal.
The Head of Office shall cease to maintain GPF Accounts of Group D employees from the Financial Year 2018-19 and the Director of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance, West Bengal shall maintain the GPF Accounts for Group D employees with effect from Financial Year 2018-19. Director of Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance, West Bengal shall initiate necessary actions which are pre-requisite to such switchover with effect from 01/04/2018.
This order will take immediate effect and shall cover employees having HRMS unique Id only. Employees posted in deputation and not having unique Id in HRMS shall not be brought into the purview of this Online GPF module at present. Maintenance of the GPF accounts in respect of the Group D employees posted in deputation shall continue to be maintained as per existing process until further order.
Necessary amendments in The General Provident Fund (West Bengal Services) Rules’ will be made in due course.

Sd/- H.K. Dwivedi
Additional Chief Secretary
to the Government of West Bengal

No. 734-F dated 28.02.2018, Source